Saturday, April 28, 2007

A professor at UC, Berkeley organized a debate on the Israeli war on Lebanon. The debate was before a class on Middle East studies. I was invited, along with an Israeli diplomat. The Israeli side sent an Arab bedouin diplomat (who had served in the Israeli military/intelligence). I wished it was open to the public, but it was not--I don't know what the school was afraid of. The "diplomat" complained to the audience that I refused to shake his hands, or greet him, or even talk to him, or address him directly. Boo hoo hoo. That counts as backward behavior by Lebanonese standards. It is delicious to be backward sometimes. Let us say that I had fun in the debate. OK, I admit. I had great fun.