King `Abdullah and Prince Sultan discussing "the Palestinian cause" with Dick Cheney. Also seen in the picture is US Department of State's Arabic interpretor, Jamal Hilal. Hilal is praised a lot in Dennis Ross's account of his "peace process." Hilal apparently explains "the Arab culture" to US officials. He, apparently, was the first to explain the significance of throwing shoes at people's faces in Arab culture to top US officials. They were all told--in an act of cultural sensitivity--to avoid throwing their shoes at the faces of Arab leaders, and to avoid calling them by the names of animals. I noticed that Ross when praising Hilal, tells the readers that he is a Coptic Christian. He just wanted to make sure that the reader accepts him as a "good man." I don't want to be unfair: he may have told the reader that he is not a Muslim only to reassure the reader that he can be trusted although he was born an Arab.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
King `Abdullah and Prince Sultan discussing "the Palestinian cause" with Dick Cheney. Also seen in the picture is US Department of State's Arabic interpretor, Jamal Hilal. Hilal is praised a lot in Dennis Ross's account of his "peace process." Hilal apparently explains "the Arab culture" to US officials. He, apparently, was the first to explain the significance of throwing shoes at people's faces in Arab culture to top US officials. They were all told--in an act of cultural sensitivity--to avoid throwing their shoes at the faces of Arab leaders, and to avoid calling them by the names of animals. I noticed that Ross when praising Hilal, tells the readers that he is a Coptic Christian. He just wanted to make sure that the reader accepts him as a "good man." I don't want to be unfair: he may have told the reader that he is not a Muslim only to reassure the reader that he can be trusted although he was born an Arab.
