Fateful Triangle

Peace for Galilee523Hebrew,” Timerman writes:Throughout the ages, how many times have people learnedthe language of the conquerors, imitated their gestures, andtried to divine their intentions and moods? How many timesmust the Jews have done this?…I do not fraternize withthose I have subdued by force. 283These are the remarks that were described by Conor Cruise O’Brien inhis New Republic review cited above as “faintly nauseating” and “stuffand nonsense,” in contrast to Timerman’s impressive insights about PLOsympathizers in the United States. O’Brien’s own conclusion is that“most Lebanese—including Muslims and Druses, as well as Christians—were glad that Israel invaded Lebanon,” and regarded “the damage andloss of life incurred” as “unavoidable”—“most people did not refer tothese at all,” presumably regarding them as a small price to pay for thepleasure of being attacked by Israel. In his “Lebanon Eyewitness,”Martin Peretz asserts that “everyone I did meet [including no one rich]was relieved that the Israelis had lifted from them the burden of thePLO.” That everyone he met expressed gratitude to Israel is quitepossibly true—perhaps a tribute to the “spectacular” effectiveness of thepublic relations stunt that was the “showpiece” of the hasbaracampaign; see section 7.2. That the attitudes expressed to Peretz andO’Brien are in fact the attitudes of the Lebanese they spoke to (let alone“most Lebanese”) would seem perhaps questionable, though again oneshould not underestimate the effectiveness of the means used to achieveAbba Eban’s “rational prospect” as well as other factors we havereviewed.As for the true attitudes of Lebanese approached by Westerners—especially those whose passionate pro-Israel sentiments were surely notClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky