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Jeffrey Goldberg and Jack Shafer

the breakfast table
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from: Jeffrey Goldberg

Sharon's Campaign Manager, Yasser Arafat

Posted Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001, at 10:39 AM ET

Hi Jack:

I'm writing this morning under duress. Sometime last night, I came down with a 24-hour Ebola. So far, it is cleverly mimicking the symptoms of a stomach virus--I am not yet bleeding through my pores, nor are my internal organs liquefying at a fast rate of speed--but I expect these developments to occur at any time, so I'll write quick.

I opened my Times this morning and read, "A senior aide to Mr. Sharon, Raanan Gissin, said today that the incoming prime minister plans a Vietnam-style 'pacification' strategy in the Palestinian territories, forcibly 'separating the terrorists from the civilian population.' "

If it worked once, why wouldn't it work again?

Jack, you're scouring the newspapers right now: Have you come across anything more ridiculous than that?

On the other hand, some of the Jerusalem-based beat reporters for the major dailies are doing fairly superficial, even biased jobs explaining the meaning of Sharon's victory. In one maddening story, Mary Curtius of the Los Angeles Times writes, "even as Sharon welcomed what an aide called a 'warm' message of congratulations from Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, the hawkish former general also paid a visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall, where he promised that the city will remain the capital of the Jewish people 'for all eternity.' "

In other words, the newly elected prime minister of the Jewish state had the temerity to visit Judaism's holiest site and then promise that the Jewish capital will remain Jewish.

Tom Friedman has the most interesting piece today on the Middle East. "(T)he press is asking exactly the wrong question about the Sharon election," Friedman wrote. "They're asking, who is Ariel Sharon? The real question is, who is Yasir Arafat?"

Yasser Arafat, I've stated in another venue, served, in effect, as Sharon's campaign manager. Arafat's unwillingness to make compromises with the man Friedman calls Israel's de Gaulle--Ehud Barak--is directly responsible for the ascension of Sharon.

I would love to chat on with you, but I must proceed immediately to Ft. Detrick's Level Four biocontainment facility. If I don't make it out, tell Pam I've promised you my Neil Diamond CDs.

Your friend,
Jeff

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Jeffrey Goldberg

Sharon's Campaign Manager, Yasser Arafat

Posted Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001, at 10:39 AM ET
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Jack Shafer is deputy editor of Slate. Jeffrey Goldberg is a staff writer at The New Yorker. His book on the Middle East, Prisoners, will be published next year by Knopf.
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Reader Comments From The Fray:




[Notes from the Fray Editor: There was a spirit of friendly enquiry in the Fray: "Do you guys like each other?" asked Beth. "What is a CVS?" came from Dea--and do you need to be rich to find out? (Fletch tells us it's a drugstore.) And Mark wanted to know "What's wrong with a little Masada?"

Posters who weren't asking questions were trying to draw blood. "Breakfast Table" Fray regulars are a nest of trouble-makers. Neill Hamilton demonstrates this here and here, and so does Joseph Britt, whose comment below provoked a thread well worth reading, including a debate on whether basketball is prominent in American culture.]


In response to last week's "Breakfast Table", I and several other Fray posters made the suggestion that this feature would be more interesting if it involved writers who actually disagreed with each other about something.

By "something," I was referring to American politics or something especially prominent in American culture.

Disagreements about whom Israelis should vote for do not count. This is because Israel is a foreign country. Now, I wish Israel well; I like most of the Israelis I have met in my life; I even think how the American government should respond to whatever Israeli government emerges from this week's election is a topic worthy of exploration.

But who would I vote for? Stupid question

--Joseph Britt

(To reply, click here.)

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