“THE PEOPLE OF FOREVER ARE NOT AFRAID” by Shani Boianjiu

At first, I purchased this book for the title itself. One of my favorite things to do, when I go to the bookstores is to buy books that I know nothing about.

I found the title “The people of forever are not afraid” as being brilliant and powerful at the same time.

The subject of this book is one that I am quite taken with: it is about the duty of Israeli girls to enroll in the army for two whole years. How will an eighteen-year-old girl be transformed after serving as a soldier in the Israeli military for two years?
While I was in University, I also served in the Romanian army, but it was only for four weeks. In my case, I don’t remember being a transformative experience, except for the fact that I had to dress as a soldier with an old, smelly, and itchy uniform.

I have chosen a fragment from the book that describes an incident from the border between Egypt and Israel. On the Egyptian side, there were two Arabian soldiers: Samir and Hamody, and on the Israeli side, there were two Jewish soldiers (girls). Both sets of soldiers were on duty and heavily armed.

“If we could look into the seventh tower from the right on the Israeli side of the Egyptian border on August 7 in the year 2007, what we would see would be two Israeli soldiers (girls) with their eyes closed. They’d be on the ground. Naked.

“Samir was still not really saying anything, and Hamody decided to maybe try to do what he was in the tower to do in the first place. He picked up his binoculars and looked into the Israeli side. On the other side of the border, two Israeli soldiers (girls) were lying on the ground, naked.
Hamody’s uncle had always told him, since childhood, that God hands his treasures to every person on this earth equally; it is just that some people choose not to enjoy their treasures.
Samir was still looking away, and before he knew it Hamody had his pants low, then lower, and he was using only his left hand to hold the binoculars.
Samir heard Hamody shouting that it was all Jew’s fault, that it was some deliberate trick, a new Israeli evil strategy.”

“It would take 2 months for the Israeli press to get a hold of the story, 2 and a half months for the Egyptian press, 7 years for the BBC.
But when the press did get a hold of it, they would title the whole situation: A Diplomatic Incident.”

Published by Hogarth, 2013