Rumi; One of a Million: Volume 10

© 2014 Simoné Mirulla. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/15/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8690-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8691-7 (e)

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Contents

The Six-Day Arab-Israeli War: 2-6 June, 1967

Trip to Tunisia

Dhar

Return to Tibesti

Last minute flight over Mali

Moroccan South

The Six-Day

Arab-Israeli War:

2-6 June, 1967

I was chatting with Rumi in his office, organising the inauguration of several service stations in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. We would invite, as usual, dignitaries from nearby including religious leaders. At that moment a special bulletin arrived, informing us of the attacks launched by the bordering Arab countries against Israel. Their aim was to take back the territories occupied since 1948.

They’re deluded. I said after reading the letter.

They’ve lost the war before it’s even begun. said Hirsch, Head of the Engineering and Construction Department, which Rumi belonged to.

But you haven’t said who. Rumi said sarcastically.

Really, Simone, do you have to ask? Who? Let’s be realistic: of course the Arabs. They will lose other territories and then fight for centuries to get them back. Forget about it anyway, and let’s get back to us. As a result of the fighting, we have orders to evacuate by plane with our families. Go as you think’s best to Rome, Malta or Athens. Hirsch specified.

Certainly not us locals. Rumi observed. As you wish, just come with us to the American Military Airbase Wheelus.

We wouldn’t think of it. I said uncompromisingly.

Life goes on here, you take taxis, rent a bus, but leave us in peace, we have other things to think about. interrupted Rumi.

Yes, until with your own eyes you see the terrible consequences that will undoubtedly cause hundreds of deaths among the undefended Jews.

I can imagine. Just like in 1948 when Israel became independent, when the fellah came down from the countryside, circled the Tripoli and Benghazi ghetto and set fire to hundreds of houses. The Jews had no escape, they were burned alive.

Poor Jews. During the curfew by my house I saw hundreds of coffins pass on trucks.

Why ‘poor Jews?, wondered Hirsch.

Of course poor Jews. They were the only ones who ended up burned in the ghetto; the rich Jews had already taken the safe houses in the city. They had been abandoned by Italians during the Second World War.

They were indeed untouchable. he clarified. They had those same fellah well compensated for protecting them. They’re the ones who still today dominate commerce, thanks to support from ministers in King Idriss’s corrupt government. It’s been called that by the every same Senussi Dignitaries.

They’re not all wrong.

And you’ll see there won’t even be a cabinet.

Seriously?

But of course. After Israel has occupied more of Allah’s territories, you want the fellah defending them, incited by the Ulema to rebel? The very same Parliamentarians have already transferred all their and the Jews possessions abroad. Sooner or later they’re expecting to be thrown out by the fellah of the Senussi.

And what about all the commercial, artisanal and industrial activity financed by the Jews? Hirsch wondered.

You mean what will happen to them? They will disappear. No more capitalists, at least not for the moment, the usual Jews and then the Italians and other infidels.

But you are you? Hirsch asked.

Ah! This American doesn’t know who I am? asked Abdalla, who had come into the waiting room after overhearing the conversation.

I’ll tell you who this ‘effendi’ is. I interrupted. It’s the spy Abdalla. Not only is he our collaborator, he is Hammer’s right arm in Cyrenaica.

Let’s not exaggerate. Hirsch said. It’s a pleasure. I heard Simone talking about you. He’s convinced that thanks to you we’ll manage to complete our projects.

Until yesterday, I’d say. But everything’s changed today. The Nasser line, that you’re calling ‘fellah’, before or after they’ve thrown out the Jews, will seize everything on behalf of the Senussi. As you know, the majority of this country is subject to them, a majority that the Senussi oblige to disdain wealth…

And as Fazi correctly mentioned: goodbye to capitalism.

I would add: goodbye to private enterprise. Even us Muslims will be forbidden to take part in it, precisely because we should disdain wealth.

And so everything will be seized, everyone lined up for the army. Hirsch said, laughing.

You’re joking but that’s the terrible reality awaiting us around the corner.

And there’s not only the Senussi, indoctrinating people with their archaic principles to control the masses, but also Nasser’s trotter, which the fellah love. No more middle class, nor more bourgeois, no richer or extremely rich. The power will belong, on the surface, to the poor, governed behind the scenes by Senussi Dignitaries as Rumi well knows. They won’t give a toss for technological or scientific development. Research would be counterproductive to the development of Islam, the main aim of their lives. he pointed out.

Enough now. Abdalla said. Let’s forget all about it. I bid you farewell, it’s my prayer time now. Inshallah.

Goodness, all of a sudden Abdalla has become an incredible mystic. I observed. Our colleague has overcome his religious crisis and he has wanted us to know by chatting for a few minutes. Incredible.

It happens to everyone, sooner or later. Thinking about it, we don’t know if Paradise will be earned with mysticism or fundamentalism. We’re caught between the mystical Koran, before Mohammed was thrown out of Mecca, in 622, and the fundamentalist Koran, after the Prophet had escaped from Mecca and took refuge in the Medina. There he organised himself to destroy the idolatrous enemies. It’s an inner battle that a Muslim has fought for centuries; he doesn’t know what the right path is for reaching paradise. He stated.

Even if it doesn’t mean anything, it’s a declaration of fact of the submerged reality, dragged along for centuries.

So none of you Muslims feel sure that Paradise is guaranteed, after life as a Mystic or a Fundamentalist? Hirsch asked.

No, Paradise is guaranteed to both Sunni and Shiite Mystics, as it is for Sunni and Shiite Fundamentalists. But we are in doubt about who deserves it more.

But you are sure that the ones who deserve it the most are suicide bombers?

Not necessarily. Sacrificing one’s life for clear fanaticism doesn’t guarantee paradise. Especially if it’s done for money.

For money?

I don’t mean all of them, but the majority of suicide bombers are desperate young people, without work, and they do it for the survival of their poverty-stricken families who are then stuffed with money.

I didn’t know that. You mean they don’t all do it out of a conviction that it will get them into Paradise?

Believe what you want. I only know that for me, an act like that is always suicide. I must admit that I know the Koran superficially after Mohammed fled Mecca, taking shelter in the Medina. As far as I know, I don’t believe it recognises suicide bombers as heroic. Excuse my ignorance but I have my doubts that it will assure them a place in Paradise.

Especially to those who do it for money.

Quite. He asserted.

Then Hirsch spoke,

It should be said that, seen with Western eyes, suicide bombers are simply mercenaries ordered by Islamic terrorists. Willing or not, reckless or not, a cocktail of ingenuity, ignorance, doubts, fears, errors and sins, attracted by desperately wanting to leave some money behind so their families can survive. Since the occupation of Palestine they have been mostly railing against the territories occupied by the Israelis.

What mercenaries! I replied. They are merely ‘shahid’, martyrs of Islam, ready to sacrifice themselves in the name of Allah.

Mercenaries or martyrs, urged on by mujahidin…

Yes, they also fight for jihad, the Holy War to get back the land promised by the myth of the Umma, the Palestinian nation of Islam usurped by the Israelis. They are preparing to conquer and the victory of Islam with the war that the neighbouring Islamic countries launched in these hours. They want to throw the Israelis out and build a theocratic State…

That will then hide in the shelter of law. Hirsch interrupted me.

And then gradually set up, as you know, a religious, political, cultural and economic power, in the heart of the Muslim and Jewish community.

I admire your sarcasm. What Hirsch said, Rumi butted in, is just fictional politics. Despite knowing that the majority of the Palestinians are moderate people who aspire to integrate peacefully with full respect for the laws and to share common values, by the book…

In reality, what Rumi mentions is just a utopia. It’s very unlikely the war started by the Arab countries with end quickly by enlarging the land occupied by Israel. There will be no peace; a new web of terrorism will emerge on a vast scale. The suicide bombers and the attackers will multiply to the nth power, until the death of the last one.

You mean the last Palestinian, whether he’s a moderate or a suicide bomber? asked Hirsch.

I’m no prophet but let’s not exaggerate. I tried to come to some conclusion and change the subject. But Hirsch went on:

I forgot to tell you: from today on, until further notice, we are in a state of emergency. It would do well to go to your house. I’m waiting for my family to then go to the airport, then straight to Greece. Until new orders we are not to work.

Seriously? Came a voice from a man entering in a barracan.

Baccusc? Hirsch said in surprise. What are you doing here, you were meant to be at Marsa El Brega?

I invited the Palestine. Marketing has entrusted him with running the distributors we’re going to inaugurate tomorrow morning. Even if we are in a state of emergency, we work the same. Rumi clarified.

Right, we have to respect the schedule.

Then, after inaugurating the service station at Suani, no break, we’ll have to leave for Beida. Rumi pointed out.

You do so at your own risk. Hirsch said. Wait at least for Esty to come back from Brega; he’ll give us the latest on the state of emergency. Hirsch said.

So I’ll have some way to get details about the discussions I heard from behind the door.

You mean you were spying on us? Hirsch inquired.

Not at all. He interrupted. Baccusc lived around the parts where the conflict is imminent and can tell us precisely how things are in Palestine.

As always, jihad is unstoppable, until the last Israeli leaves Palestine, Allah’s land.

And here we are with Allah’s land. Hirsch replied. But we have our feet on the ground, before the Israelis throw us in the sea.

You’re not all wrong. Baccusc said. Unfortunately, Jihad has no limits.

But what do you mean for us to do, throwing out the Israelis in a fury?

We will continue to persecute them with every means…

Which cannot be mentioned to those in favour of the Israelis.

This is true, but we have Allah Akbar on our side. It’s written that a population like the Jewish one reduces over millennia by marginalisation, and it will not be able to submit to another face of disparity, that is the privilege of dominating us. They have aspired for millennia in a place they can never belong to. Inshallah!

Excuse me if I’m interrupting. Baccusc said, You cannot know as I do what Holy War means like the one in 1948. First it was to fight back against the invasion of Allah’s land, which didn’t succeed, and it is now imminent. We will take back the land that was usurped by the Israelis.

Well then, what are you waiting for? You explain it to us, if you hold it so dearly. Hirsch replied.

Even if I then have to go very soon, I’m waiting for my family then we’ll leave for Greece. War has begun; we’re leaving before the worst happens, until the rough waters calm.

I don’t want to polemicize but the little trip to Greece is an excuse for a vacation right at the start of summer.

Fine then, think of it as you will, Fazi.

For us, frankly, who have seen it all; war doesn’t matter to us at all. So then, back to us. Baccusc interrupted, mentioning ‘Holy Wars’, given the circumstances, if you agree, is necessary.

That’s what we keep saying: explain. I said with curiosity.

They are conflicts that use violence to gain victory on behalf of a God, against enemies identified by religious criteria.

We knew that. Hirsch said. And we know too that this war will take on a rather peculiar aspect, in relation to the Islamic and Israeli monotheistic religions. And for excessive power over a tiny population of around five million Israelites, there will be a short war against a mass of seventy million Muslims. This is not much but it is certain. Hirsch affirmed.

In any case, we’ll see. We’ll see how it finished. The fact is that the first monotheists in human history, the Jews, consider themselves to be the elected tribe, chosen by the only God (Yahwè). So their ‘holy wars’ do not imply the conversion of other religious groups. This complicates things, Rumi pointed out, with the other two forms of monotheism, Christianity and Islam.

Right, despite having originated from the same father Abraham, together the people, not only believe in a single God, they believe by their own selfish calculations that the message they received is universal, and so destined for all of mankind. he explained.

But what sense is there if we are all descended from one father. Are we brothers or not? Rumi interrupted.

Yes, we agree, all brothers but born from two distinct mothers. I clarified.

This is true. Baccusc confirmed.

It follows that eschatological work must be done by different believers from both the faiths to find the desire of the one God, and then the conversion of the whole world to his word. How? You may well ask yourselves, with preaching from mosques and in particular the missionary strength of us Muslims to expand Islam. That’s besides the effort to reconquer Palestine.

Yes, the so-called ‘rebirth’ of Islam. Thanks to proceeds from Allah’s oil, it’s only a matter of time. Hirsch said sarcastically. Preaching and force from well-paid Muslim missionaries, today just like always…

And until the end of time. When it is necessary to arrive at our goal we will use the violence of our faith against the infidels, against the disbelievers, against the heretics against all the religious adversaries in our Muslim world. That’s what we foresee in this war too.

Now you’re really dreaming. Hirsch said.

Baccusc isn’t all wrong. I tried to explain. I wouldn’t ever say his thinking is fantasy, it had developed from a deeply-held conviction that ours is the only monotheistic religion, for everyone to breathe: Islam. Jihad is considered by many westerners as the ‘Holy War’ par excellence. It’s an enormous error of interpretation; to clear it up basic education is necessary. Baccusc clarified. It must be seen that still today they think like tribes, and so in the concept of state is not Islamic it is run by religious leaders. In a Muslim nation is in inadmissible because they start above all from the message of the one God (Allah) who is revealed through Mohammed (circa 570-632 BC). And that will remain until the end of time in the society that was, and still is, organised according to a tribal social system. They had and will have consequences concerning the matter that here most specifically we want to understand Palestinians. Whether the war is won or not, it will never be resolved, because of a matter of principle. The passing of power from one tribe to the next is infinite, as are the conflicts. The violence between the groups was and still is explicit in the ‘vendetta’ and the ‘race’ (in Arabic the Gaza). The latter one in particular had, and still has today, the function of allowing young people to demonstrate their abilities both in fighting but above all in the strategic leading of tribes. The ‘vendetta’ instead implied, and implies, violent fighting against the tribe of an individual, responsible for some crime considered to be serious (effectively, homicide). And for cases of that sort, they do not realise that these vendettas can continue for ages, involving more and more tribes, until they turn into complete wars. They will fight the Israelis until the last vendetta.

A typical situation defined by academics as ‘organised anarchy’. Rumi clarified.

That’s enough now. Hirsch interrupted. Now it’s completely clear that this is not a war to reclaim the occupied lands but revenge dating back from the declaration of an infidel democratic state in Allah’s land. It will continue forever, infinitely. And at this point we needn’t wait for Esty anymore to give us the latest news on the frontlines. I’ll read you the latest bulletin confirming that the war is happening and that the Israelis, despite being surrounded by five Arabic countries, have already crossed the border and are heading to occupy more of Allah’s lands…

It’s not true: that news is propaganda. Baccusc claimed.

Propaganda or not, what I’ve read you will help you draw conclusions on whether to give up or go to inaugurate the Suani distributor.

Ah! Given we’re already in the scheduled program for completing and opening one station after another, we won’t give up, not for a conflict three thousand kilometres away. Even if some scuffles have been announced against the Jews that are close to my heart.

Right, where you’re living, in the middle of the city, it’s inevitable. As soon as they hear things are going badly for Arab countries there are a mass of feddahin ready to go and destroy the Jews shops. It’s already been planned that around where you live, a part from the clothing shop owned by your mother and some general and fruit shops, the rest are owned by Jews. They will have to defend themselves from the inside if they want to save anything. We know very well this is what the fellah intend. Rather than disdaining wealth, they can’t wait to attack the Jew’s shops and ransack them in the name of Allah. he said with irony.

Not exactly in Allah’s name, in the end, they’ll bring what they’ve stolen into the Zeribe. Now is the time to leave. Let’s go, come on. we jumped in the beetle and found ourselves behind an endless line of trucks, vans and cars heading to the countryside. Frightened by the first alarming news of the war that had only just started in the first hours of the morning of 2 June; everyone took to the roads to find some way of evacuating the city.

I don’t understand why they decided to evacuate. Baccusc wondered aloud. Rumi had just overtaken the line of evacuees and was heading for the Suani station, a few kilometres south of Tripoli.

No ribbon cutting by the Mayor, no prayer for good luck from the Mudir, no speeches. The plant was inaugurated in silence, everyone was busy listening to the latest news that the radio was continually broadcasting, whether true or false. There was just time to fill up the tank, as usually happened at the inauguration of a distributor. After saying goodbye to Baccusc, the Mufti asked for a lift to invite them for tea.

The situation is critical, I want to explain it to Rumi; even if you’re well-informed, the terrible reality will spark the fellah into setting fire to everything. Stay here, where it’s safe. Don’t go back to the city. You would risk being assaulted by feddahim who can’t tell the difference between people, not even people like you going around for work.

We are well informed of the risks that we run, but we have no other choice, we have to go back. Our families are waiting for us.

What? I thought you were all evacuated and there were just a few Jews left defending their shops to stop the fellah from burning them, even if there’s no one left to help them. Anyway, I’ll tell you again, go back to the city at your own risk. Tea is served. It should be said that until now we have lived in harmony that the mystic Mohammed passed down to us ever since he was no longer forced to hide in the Mecca. Then there he had to get organised to defend and persecute enemies like today in Palestine.

Careful, the war today is caused by Arabs. I pointed out.

Right! At the start it was just a provocation.

At the start? When? asked Rumi. It’s been three months since we first started talking about this war.

Yes, the start, three months ago. But then the countries surrounding Israel knew that Israel would never have attacked first and so they started the so-called provocations to stir them up. But they didn’t hint we were close to a war. The Arab countries are not prepared now, nor will they ever be to win a war against Israel to win her. They’re dreaming. Let’s look at the facts.

But it seems the bordering countries didn’t want to look at reality. They, unconsciously, launched the attack.

Seriously?

What, don’t you listen to the radio? They’re the ones who launched the first attack against Israel.

They didn’t know how to manage their forces; this little is known. It’ll be a walk in the park for the Israelis.

But what, even your phrase is a provocation? I said laughing.

No, no, I don’t agree with you, provocation or not, they’re the ones who wanted to attack first.

You don’t have to agree with me: you should admit that you heard the news from the Egyptian radio. It’s all false.

Listen above all to the Syrian one. They admit that things have been happening since the first attack. But now we’ve had tea thank you, we have to go. They’re waiting for us in the city."

Not before a second tea. I have to tell you something about the Jihad. This is the reason why the Arabs launched the first attack: they had to defend themselves.

Defend them? But no one had attacked them.

Besides the fact that the war at the moment is spreading across all of the Middle-East, I wanted to tell you what we said in secret in the morning prayers that Fazi, as a heretic, doesn’t know.

What you say about me is just to provoke me.

Well fine then, take it as you wish, only if you had gone to the mosque this morning, you would have heard our plan to gather some fellah of our own to launch an attack ourselves…

Yes yes I know, against the defenceless Jews who have been forever stateless. But do you mind telling me what those poor people have to do with it?

Poor people? But they’re the ones who are dominating commerce in this country, maintained by their corrupt friends in high places. And they’re the ones we have decided to annihilate and get out of this country that so disdains wealth.

There we go. Why didn’t you say you wanted to take back control over the people, leaving them ignorant as always, to subject them to your commands?

Your question doesn’t deserve a reply. I can only tell you to be careful when you go back into Tripoli because it is likely you will find some shopping centres in flames. There are countless funeral pyres of palaces and shops owned by the Jews alone the main roads. The great religious leaders of the Nasser line wanted them, to finally destroy the Israeli thread of commerce that was built after the Anglo-American occupation after the end of the Second World War.

"That’s true. Whether they’re rich or poor, I can’t say if the stateless Jews during the colonial Italian rule had a shop in the middle of the new Tripoli city or not. The Jews were living there for centuries, all in the ghetto.

After the war the shops abandoned by the Italians who had swarmed Italy were occupied by the Jews… Rumi clarified. A part from a few shops selling general things, fruits and vegetables, some cafes, a few barber shops, cobblers, mechanics, electricians, plumbers, the only clothing shop selling clothes in the centre of Italian Tripoli, around the De Bono Gallery, right in the nucleus of the city, towards Piazza Asciuhada (an ex-Italian piazza), around the Spanish Castle, well, it’s my mothers." Rumi remarked.

Now I remember. The Mufti said. Often I go there, now I understand. The place is very central. 2 steps away from the mosque in Piazza Asciuhada, from where the rebels start against the Jews or the infidels urged on by the Ulema, after the prediction.

Don’t talk to me about it. Rumi said. It’s been years since I saw those hotheads who fight against anyone they feel like after the Friday prayers.

Right, the Mufti replied, for the first few metres perhaps they’d take it up against the English, then someone directs them towards the Jews, or later on, against all the infidels. They don’t know who to fight, if there’s not anyone leading them.

In effect, a part from the Ulema, among those hot heads there aren’t many provokers who direct them towards the Jews and the infidels, according to the moment.

The last disturbance happened today, it was really full, all against the Jews but also against the Italians. He pointed out. About that Rumi, I forgot to tell you, run now, go, your mothers shop is at risk of fire. Many Jews will save themselves: they’ve been warned by their partners and so shut themselves up in their shops to try and put out the fires that the demonstrators will hurl at them. Many won’t be able to save everything. We know the numbers of the streets with the Jewish shops on, they’ll break the shutters and rob them…

Wildly butchering those poor souls.

Enough, let’s stop mocking each other. Hurry up and get back there. It’s written that you will save what you can from Rumi’s mother’s shop, Inshallah. There’s that beautiful painting of the Madonna with the baby Jesus of Sciara 24 Dicembre, n 55, right? asked the Mufti.

Yes, yes that’s right. Rumi said. Go; go, I don’t promise you anything, I’ll see to protecting it. Rumi drove the beetle flat out along almost the whole way, without meeting a single car. It seemed the curfew had already begun. Going into Tripoli from Bab Aziza, we followed him towards the centre and until the Cathedral Square we did not encounter any fires. There wasn’t a soul along the streets. We found the worst when we drove into the main street Istiklal. Left and right was disaster. The minutes spent driving along those five hundred minutes seemed to last for hours. We passed many ransacked shops, with a lot of debris scattered across the street blocking the road.

These weren’t fires, the moment they had been pillaged they were already open, and a few Jews were lying lifeless on the ground, massacred. Then to go further we had to get past a few tree trunks that the revolutionaries had used to break the shutters. The Jews had seen the protesters coming and uselessly closed them and themselves inside. At last we reached Sciara 24 Dicembre. Rumi parked in front of the door of the house, opposite the shop. We looked at each other and breathed a huge sigh of relief: his mother’s shop was still intact with the shutters down. I thought immediately of the Mufti and the painting of the Madonna with the Baby Jesus. I broke the silence:

Your mother, where is your mother? I asked, still trembling. I have to say that after passing through that hell of devastated shops I was expecting some other hidden savage to suddenly attack us.

Here she is! Flustered, emotional. Just outside the house. Quick, wave at her to get back inside immediately. I can see other demonstrators coming at us from the mosque.

I just managed to lower the shutters in time; I was saved by the grace of God and the Madonna. Rumi’s mother was destroyed by fear.

You have shown such great courage, strength Mamma. Rumi said barring the door. Let’s get to the rooms. If those people want to get up, we’ll try to defend ourselves.

You’re right Rumi, but let’s not get ourselves too worried. If we have to we’ll call our ‘security’. For the moment this house, like the shop, are off their list of places to ransack. That’s what I understood from the Mufti. Remember: his cousin is the head of this area, Ben Barca.

Right, Ben Barca, I can see him through the blinds, he’s in the middle of the crowd coming from the Maiden Al Shuhada mosque.

Go; go, I’m not promising you anything, I’ll see to it: remember what the Mufti said?

Right, I agree he’s a trustworthy person. Rumi said. Even if he thinks the fate of this shop is written, he made sure that someone told his cousin Ben Barca that the shop at number 55 on Sciara 24 Dicembre mustn’t be touched, nor the painting of the Virgin with the Baby Jesus. He will distinguish it from the one below belonging to the Jew Bino, 55A.

Right, no doubt about it, we Muslims also worship the Madonna. I said, comforting Rumi’s mother. She was going withdrawing to her room, destroyed by fear and the thought of Rumi not arriving. She was rather cheered up."

Comforting words, but if I may, I can’t take it anymore, I will go and rest. Let’s hope for the very best. As she spoke we heard the fire engines, and spying through the blinds we realised that a fire was breaking out on the first floor of a four-block wide palace. The broken furniture had been hurled from the balcony, and was carried on a truck. The Jewish family had managed to escape before the rebels arrived. Just as that scene came to an end another began: more furniture was being thrown from the second floor."

But isn’t that house owned by an Italian? I wondered aloud.

Yes, the Signor Carbonaro, the old man facing the balcony, he too has been humiliated by those few lost pieces of furniture. They’re looking for Jews, they thought some might be hiding with him. They didn’t find any so out of anger they’re throwing the furniture from the balconies.

But now they’re setting fire to the shops below with rags soaked in petrol.

Will they succeed or not? Rumi wondered.

Right, I understand why you’re not sure. The Mufti warned us, many Jewish shop owners were brave enough to shut themselves inside to throw back out the petrol rags… But now they’re at no. 41. That’s the fruit shop belonging to an Italian. Oh my gosh they’re setting it on fire!

Probably he didn’t stay inside like the Jews and it’ll go up in flames. Too bad for him.

He has nothing to lose; the problem is when they arrive at number 55.

But you don’t have to worry, only worry if the Jew didn’t stay inside at number 53.

It could also happen that whoever’s giving orders about the fires could make a mistake and set fire to number 55 and 55A, here below the house.

You mean you doubt…

No, I believe what the Mufti told us, but you know, a human error from a mistake when copying, or being distracted, confusing the number 55 with 55 A….. It’s all possible.

Just as Rumi stopped talking we heard bangs coming from below, telling us Bino was hidden in 55A.

Ah! It’s Bino! Rumi exclaimed. Look, even at the risk of death, he won’t give up his shop full of gold and silver.

But at 53? What’s happening at 53?

Messica is also in his shop. Rumi’s mother replied in a faint voice. Ah! The police are arriving to break up the crowd, just as they were trying to set fire to 53.

Now my mother’s shop: cross your fingers. Ah! No: they came straight here below the house; they’re trying to light Bino’s shop. He’s a tough bugger, they won’t manage it; thank goodness, we’re saved. The police have intervened.

They still won’t stop: they’ll go where there’s no fire and then set fire to everything, even knocking heavily on the doors. Now they’re trying to bash it to splinters.

Wait Rumi, calm down, they’re telephoning, get the phone.

It’s Mr Shelton, the Vice President.

Don’t worry, they’re going now, the police have arrived. I warned them about Sciara Tunis 25, nothing will happen to them. They’re just trying get a reaction. They won’t touch you; in case of an emergency I’ll send you a helicopter from Wheelus.

Yes, yes, the office secretary said that. Put yourself in our shoes, they’re burning everything here and there’s no hope the fire fighters will intervene and manage to put them out. They’re sending jets of water from their hoses on the opposite side to the fires, trying to put out a terrible fire. Ah! Great, they’ve stopped; they’re not trying to hammer down the door anymore.

Someone told that crazy crowd to get away. I observed.

Now we can really relax. We’re in the middle of thick smoke from an infernal fire, we can’t see any more but we’re safe. Rumi concluded. Thanks anyway Mr Shelton for the thought. Since the arrival of the excited rebels three hours of fire had passed. Then there was curfew. Still day, police cars arrived to save those four Jews who had bravely managed to put out the fires from inside. And the others? What had happened to them? Burned alive. Despite the curfew, we went out to quickly survey the area. Passing in front of ransacked, burned out shops we came across a bone-chilling sight: carbonised bodies piled in a heap like debris, still smoking.

The fire fights had not known how to spread themselves out; to put out a fire, they needed two to three hours. When they arrived to put out one it spread to the next and there was nothing they could do. All that was left were ashes and a pile of scraps. They let them go and moved onto the next shop where a fire had just been started. But it always took two or three hours to put the fire out.

And that’s not mentioning the palaces further along, towards the border. Their equipment wasn’t enough to put them out; they burnt out on their own. As soon as they’d thrown one they passed to the next.

The number of men and their equipment was not enough for what was necessary, only just for putting out a small portion of the fires happening. Then going back towards the office we met Ahmed, who ran the Indian shop with rugs and jewels opposite Rumi’s mother’s shop.

So you’re suffered too. Ahmed said, greeting them. But thanks to the Madonna, shop 55 on Sciara 24 Dicembre is safe. When I made the list with Ben Barca of the Jewish shops I didn’t add the A to the 55, to distinguish it from Bino’s. Look, here’s the list. Here we go, luckily, in brackets, in big letters, I wrote ‘Attention! Madonna.’ In all the confusion the leader of the rebels had a moment to reflect: when he reached number 55 he reread ‘Attention! Madonna’ and was in time to give the orders to not set the place on fire.

Excuse me Ahmed; don’t tell me it’s a secret. I said, with curiosity, But at least, may we know the leader of the zone so we can at least thank him.

But what Fazi, didn’t you realise yet that I’m hugging him?

Ahmed? Right Ahmed. I was really distracted, and I have to say that I’m more than distracted, I’m afraid. Who’s calling us? I asked myself as I heard the Walkie-Talkie ringing from Rumi’s beetle, as we were going to get into the car. Hello, over.

This is Baccusc of Suani. Over.

It’s Baccusc for you, Rumi.

Yes. Over.

I know that everything’s closed and burnt in Tripoli, nothing’s working, over.

No, and what do you want? Over.

In the haste to return to Tripoli, the mechanic didn’t give me all the equipment, he was waiting for your authorisation to bring the mechanics back to the site and test out the pumps. Over.

No problem, we’ll be with you in an hour. Over.

"Faster, faster, I can’t take it here anymore. The piazza has been invaded by cars and trucks with people fleeing to the countryside, they’re in an endless queue to refuel and here I’m alone, I’m waiting