Silence hung over the tunnel after Khalid and Naoum's conversation.
But Uri could not bear it any longer.
He sat upright despite his bleeding wound, his eyes flashing sharply, his voice booming in a
mixture of English and Hebrew:
" Enough! You sit here crying like victims. But we... we are the chosen people! God gave us
this land. The Torah says: Drive the beasts out of it. And you... you are the beasts!"
Daniel trembled at the impact of his words, while Na'oum gasped softly, as if she had not
expected such bluntness in front of the prisoners.
As for Khalid, he curled up further in his corner, trying not to meet Yusuf's gaze.
Yusuf stood up and approached Uri, his eyes flashing with fire:
"Animals?! Is that what they taught you? That the woman waiting at the checkpoint... and the child being bombed above his home... and the old man being expelled from his land... are all animals?"
Ori shouted defiantly:
"Yes! They are obstacles. We are here to build, and you are here to serve or die. That's how it's always been!"
Yusuf moved closer, until his face was inches from Uri's:
"Listen to me carefully... We are not animals. We are the owners of this land. We were born here, and here we will die. You are passing through... No matter how many weapons you have. The land knows its people... and it will spit you out just as it spat out all the invaders before you."
Ori struck the wall with his fist and shouted from the depths of his wound:
"No! We will never leave! This is ours forever!"
But his voice trembled at the end of the word, as if what he had said no longer convinced even himself.
Daniel watched the scene, his heart pounding.
Just a few weeks ago, he had been in Uri's place: repeating the same slogans, believing in the same "divine choice".
But now, seeing Yusuf standing firm as a mountain and Uri crumbling like a fragile stone, he realised that hatred does not build faith... only a cage of illusion.