The Lady from Tel Aviv by Raba'i al-Madhoun

Author:Raba'i al-Madhoun
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781846591228
Publisher: Saqi

7

The only thing about the girl that blows up is her attempt. She walks back to where she came from, trailing her black galabiyya behind her. The same two soldiers escort her. Two other soldiers leap out from behind the military truck and run toward the jeep parked in front of the building, about thirty metres from where I am standing. They get into the jeep and take their places in front of computer screens.

A young man next to me is staring at the scene, and I ask him what is going on. He explains that the jeep is the mobile headquarters for remote control operations. The soldiers operate robots via their computers.

Cameras in hand, three television journalists suddenly emerge from the thicket of trees, then disappear behind the building. No sooner do they disappear from our sight than an Israeli soldier comes to escort them toward the guard booth where they stand as if awaiting orders.

A boy yells out, ‘Mama, I have to pee!’

I look over to where the voice is coming from and I see a woman holding the hand of a boy who cannot be older than four. He is jumping up and down while clenching his other hand between his thighs as if his bladder was about to explode. This is a place that really deserves to be pissed on. The two of them walk over to a doorless cement block.

From behind the truck, a small robot bursts into view. It looks like a metal spider, with a long skinny arm that sticks out about half a metre into the air, from which dangles a strap. Slowly, the robot rolls forward toward the right of the building. It disappears behind the jeep then pops out again for a few seconds before going into the trees. And then I cannot see it any more. I doubt if anyone else can.

I remember the first time I ever saw footage of a robot. One of the Arab satellite channels was rebroadcasting film from Israeli television. The robot was dragging the corpse of a Palestinian man who had blown himself up. As the robot pulled the body, it painted a thick stripe of blood, which traced down the street all the way until it reached the jeep where the pieces of the body were collected.

The three-person television crew is still there with its military escort. They take a few steps from the spot next to the guard booth where they had been made to stand. Then they all—television crew and escort—sprint toward the main building and disappear somewhere behind.

The woman and child return. After draining his bladder in the outdoor urinal, the boy looks relieved, even happy. He hops and skips all the way back to where they had been standing before.

At exactly 1 pm an explosion shakes the entire area, and my body shudders to feel it. Dense smoke rises from behind the thicket of trees, and with it all traces of the attempt.

The camera crew go back to their spot.

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