"Here are two people, two fathers: an Israeli and an Arab. Both had lost daughters in the war, and they are friends. They do not see the hostility of war, but rather the friendship of two men who love one other and have suffered the same crucifixion". This is how Pope Francis described his encounter with Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin, the former Israeli and the later Palestinian, who both lost their daughters. Smadar, Rami Elhanan's 14-year-old daughter, was the victim of an attack in Jerusalem in 1997; Abir, Bassam Aramin's 10-year-old daughter, was killed in 2007 by a gunshot fired by an Israeli soldier as she left school. Their story and their joint commitment to peace in justice through the Association "The Parents Circle", was told in the novel "Apeirogon" by Colum McCann.
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