Itamar is still in prison. I find it poetic that both Tamara and I are imprisoned. Jumana was arrested, tortured, and raped even after she confessed to knowledge that Bilal was “stealing” water for his trees. She maintained she knew nothing about the phthalates. She spent four years in prison. Faisal likewise confessed to the water-pipe breach and pointed to Bilal as the mastermind. He was released from prison after agreeing to be deported to Gaza. At some point in my confinement, Gaza became a giant prison camp. Samer remained in Moscow, where he continued to run the website with Jehad, and expanded it to multiple networks. Israel tried unsuccessfully to get him on Interpol’s list. Jehad’s name never came up except in news reports that I had a brother who was a disabled gardener with one eye and a lame hand. Wadee, whom we all imagined was the weakest link, turned out to be the toughest. He confessed to nothing.

The most bizarre oddity in all this was that Wadee’s wife had been part of another resistance cell. A year and one daughter into their marriage, they learned each other’s secrets in an Israeli interrogation room. The military didn’t suspect her of anything but brought her to be raped in front of her husband to prod his confession. Wadee didn’t suspect either, but when she shouted to him, professing for the first time, “My husband, my true love,” he found the courage he needed. She fell deeply in love with her husband on that day, when they saw each other at last in the fullness of who they were. (I don’t actually know this, but it is how I imagine happiness for Wadee.) She was released after a few days, but Wadee remained, first for two years without charge, then a life sentence after an ad hoc terrorism charge and speedy military conviction. Like my prosecution, it took two days from charge to conviction. His wife and daughter can visit him in prison once every two months for thirty minutes.

As for Bilal, no one knew where he ended up, or whether he was still alive. The way Israel pummeled Palestine and arrested most of the men left everyone dazed, but it was not long before the resistance regrouped and a Third Intifada ignited, even capturing two Israeli soldiers and holding the remains of two dead ones. It happened not so long ago.

The underground city has remained our secret.