The Attack

Kim insists on driving Amin to Bethlehem. She takes a week’s leave of absence from work and drives Amin to her brother’s second home in Jerusalem, which they will use as a base of operations. Jerusalem brings back memories of Amin’s youth; after they arrive at the house, Amin departs immediately for his foster sister’s home. He goes alone. 

Bethlehem has changed a great deal since Amin’s last visit; now, it is host to “hordes of refugees, abandoning their homes in towns and villages lately transformed into shooting ranges” (72). He arrives at a big, crumbling house where he meets a woman with a troubled, pale face: his foster sister, Leila. They embrace and enter the house; Leila offers her pity. Amin reveals that he has come to Bethlehem to find out more about Sihem’s motivations. Though she saw Sihem briefly the day before the attack, Leila denies any knowledge of what happened. She stops short and almost collapses, warning that—if her husband Yasser finds out that she has been talking about these matters—he will be displeased. She tells Amin where he can find Yasser. 

Amin takes an unlicensed taxi to the address. The driver is talkative and, when Amin remains silent, he listens to a tape of Sheikh Marwan preaching.