Q. The events of September 11 are very sad, BUT only to be expected given the American bombs Israel uses to kill Palestinian children. Why are you surprised?
A. I'm not surprised, but for reasons far different from your own. American restraint and timidity, not recklessness, got us into this mess. Bin Laden, like Saddam Hussein, only mentions the Palestinians when he is desperate and near defeat. Israel � unlike its opponents � is quite able to craft its own guns and planes without our help. We deplore the killing, and in the past have supported the concept of a Palestinian state that has reasonable borders and that pledges nonviolence toward Israel; in fact, we provide over 100 million a year to Mr. Arafat and 20 times that to Mr. Mubarak, despite the animus shown America in their state-controlled papers.
But we are not stupid either. Despite American prompting, Palestine is not a democracy; it has no free judiciary, nor any history of protecting human rights. It waged its first three wars not to free the West Bank, but to destroy Israel. And we remember Mr. Arafat's past alliance with Saddam Hussein and the present cheering in the streets of the West Bank at the news of our dead � not unlike the similar jubilation there a decade ago at the rumors that the Iraqi SCUDs landing in Tel Aviv were laden with gas. We are humans, not gods, and � like you, in fact � have a long memory. If you dislike us so, perhaps, by mutual agreement, for a year or two Americans will promise not to visit Palestine and you should not visit us. And finally, could we carry on this conversation in safety inside Palestine?