Wednesday, September 19, 2007

I just finished reading the memoirs of Shafiq Al-Hut, published in 2007 by Riyad Ar-Rayyis. This is an interesting man with a long experience in Palestinian national politics. There are so many important information in this book: it has the best inside portrayal of Arafat, of his conceit, of his kooky fatalism (especially in later years), and autocratic rule. It also has a reference to the role played by Bashir Gemayyel in 1970 in the massacre of Palestinians in Kahhalah (and a reference to a video footage that I did not know existed). It talks about the time when Bashir Gemayyel was arrested by Palestinian fighters a few months later: his trunk had Palestinian skulls (and human remains) presumably from the Kahhalah massacre. Al-Hut told me how Pierre Gemayyel would never understand why somebody like him (a Palestinian who hails from a Beiruti family) would be involved in the Palestinian cause. This is Al-Hut's site.