JAN 2017
Rachel Avram awakens in her Jerusalem bedroom to the sound of scratching at her window. Of all the people in the world to be there, it is Nisreen Saregh, the eleven-year-old Palestinian girl who is wanted in the death of Rachel’s sister, Miriam. It is with amazement that Rachel finds herself pulling the child into her home, harboring a person who should be her greatest enemy. Once Nisreen is safely tucked into bed, Rachel rereads the last messages ever received from her sister, trying to piece together this strange turn of events.
Through Miriam’s eyes, we are returned to a checkpoint between the West Bank community of Abu Dis and East Jerusalem—a former neighborhood now divided by the looming structure of a separation barrier. With only one week left as a border patrol officer, the only thing that keeps Miriam going is the new resistance art that has mysteriously appeared near her post. After years of following art along the barrier, she is overjoyed to have a piece at her disposal. Another fan is young Nisreen, a girl who passes through Miriam's checkpoint every day. But, in a place where all things are divided, a common interest in the art causes more conflict than resolution.
What begins as a pleasant final week of service quickly turns into a ticking time bomb between the border guards and the people living along the West Bank barrier, all under the painting they are calling “The Doves."
