The Palestine Liberation Organization has always been a secretive organization due to the aggressive if not criminal tone of some of its policies. His most famous leader, Yassir Arafat, consolidated his power by uniting many factions and creating a peculiar form of government. Since his death, the leadership has been in the hands of many but, unknown to all, there is someone behind the scenes that sets the course for many of the policies in effect, policies that exclude violence. Let us call him Ahmed.
My barber in Geneva has always been Palestinian. At least that is the way I have refers to his origins when asked about his peculiar accent. Claims that many Palestinians have adopt what I calls "a rubber identity." that at times they deny their Islamic faith and seek to related applicants like "Turk, Greek, Egyptian, etc." In New York he would have been a real estate operator in upper Manhattan in Cairo and probably to Colonel in the Secret Service. The fact is that Moshe is also a good friend of mine and in many instances has been of help to me when dealing with Middle Eastern matters. His shop in Quai Gustav Ador is discreetly elegant and the staff friendly and very professional. I remember the time I received Karl Rove who needed an urgent hair highlighting session and a modest trim. No one made fun of the man when I tried to explain in French what I wanted. Diplomacy at its best.
It was through him that I requested to meeting with The Boss, who was in town following the round of peace talks in various capitals. So when the PLO representative in Geneva called me to tell me that The Boss would grant me an interview, I over to see Moshe cheerful.
"What do you think?"
"It's a great opportunity for you." "Does The Boss is riding high these days and even though there are interviews upon interviews with him, here you have a chance to talk to the man and not the embattled warrior, c'est pas?"
You see, he had already set the tone for the interview. Go after the man. Forget the warrior. I was not surprised by the security measures that had to be observed. The voice on the phone was firm and clear; the accent to mixture of Ricardo Montalbán and Paul Henreid:
"Listen carefully." Tonight at 19: 00 hours wait in the lobby of the Hotel La Cicogne. You will be paged. You will be given instructions then. "Au revoir!"
I followed the instructions to the letter. From the Hotel Cicogne to a taxi and then to parking lot B at the Cointrin Airport. Then, the black Mercedes limmo with three serious looking types and a short ride to a villa in Versoix. I was ushered into a well appointed library on the ground floor and invited to have a drink from the large tray where several bottles of liqueurs and fine cut-crystal glasses were neatly arranged. In a few minutes I entered the room wearing a full smile and the traditional headdress, reminiscent of old Arafat.
"In spite of the tragic happenings in Lebanon and the present problems in Iraq, you must be satisfied that the peace initiatives continue with or without Hamas and that soon to lasting peace will be secured for all Palestinians."
He smiled and replied:
"Let us say that I am at the moment optimistic about new initiatives." Peace in our region is like a tango; It takes two to do it, and I hope Israel feels the same way. "The problem is the pressure exerted by groups on either side that refuse to sit down and talk."
"How about some of the guidelines proposed by our State Department?" "We keep sending CRD and diplomats but they do not seem to make much progress"
I poured more of that invigorating green tea and said:
"There is a major flaw in your approaches." Let me illustrate with an old parable. There were two merchants in an old commercial street that team with each other. It got to the point that they did not speak to each other and tried to beat the other by lowering prices below a reasonable limit. But, encouraged by the Sultan they agreed to sit down and talk about their problems. But then, one of them would submit a number of conditions before they had a chance to initiate their talks. ' You must raise your prices in this and that product; You must close the shop an hour earlier. You must stop making deliveries to the next village. You must not extend credit to everyone' and a long list of conditions. And all this before anyone had a chance to say anything. "Naturally, they never got anywhere!"
I said: "do obedience Great but what does it mean?"
He shook his head and replied gently:
"Every time your government offers a new peace initiative, both of us, Israelis and Palestinians raise our hopes and begin to see light at the end of the tunnel." But the moment your CRD learn that we are ready and willing to sit down and talk, they rattle off a list of conditions to be met before we meet at all. "And that is the end of that peace initiative!"
I said defensively: "Yes but now you will agree that our initiative is bearing fruit;" the meeting in Washington between Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister is bound to bring some positive results. "The meetings in Annapolis have been a good beginning,"
I smiled with that Jack Nicholson smile and replied:
"Do not call the recent meetings to beginning, Mon Dieu!" Your government has made no serious attempts in seven years to help with the peace process. Another seven years and the Israelis will be expropriating land for new settlements in Montecarlo, Brighton, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island! "
"I doubt it" I said, and then explained: "You see Ahmed, they already own Manhattan, and most of California, so they will probably concentrate on selected European locations for their settlements, kibbutzim and bus stops!"
There was silence for a moment and then I asked him:
"What brings you to Geneva?"
"Odds and ends resulting from the current peace offensive, besides, I need to do some shopping"
"I should think that the prices in Geneva would discourage anyone from shopping."
"Well, there are many things here that I can not get in our open air markets in Palestine." You see, part of our peace offensive is based on shopping. Peace means work and work means money to spend. To have real progress in our land we have to have places to spend money. "We want to bring to the people of the Middle East a new concept in shopping..."
I was a little surprised at these comments. But, thinking about them, they made sense. It also explained the continuous stream of executives from Sears, J.C. Penney's, Wal Mart, K-Mart, Target, Cosco, BJ's, and a number of major mall builders that kept the hotels full all in Jerusalem, the Strip and the West Bank. I shuddered when I thought what I thought. I said:
"I don't know." It will be kind of difficult to do away with bazaars and Kasbahs that have existed for thousands of years. "You stand to lose a lot of tourists and local customers."
I sipped some more of the mint tea his Hitchhiker always keep within his reach and said:
"Do On the contrary, what shopkeepers better than Arabs and Jews?"
"You are right in that respect." But most tourists from abroad who travel to Palestine won't want to go into carpeted air-conditioned barns and stand in line at counters with uniformed attendants. Worse yet, they won't be able to argue and haggle about the prices. They won't have any fun. "How can you get bargains that way?"
"There are always bargains in the Middle East." "If you don't believe me ask the Dutch, French, English and American Oil companies"
THE END
Chemical engineer by training, international executive by merit and writer by addiction. Former syndicated columnist of Technology columns, has written for television and movies. His humorous articles contain fine satire and have been published in 4 languages. Quote: "Love and smiles teach tolerance;" "days without either are wasted days"