A reader wrote this comment under my last article in Al-Akhbar on the paper's website. I thought I would share:
"This reminds of a beautiful memory that goes back to 1977 when a comrade-friend who was preparing for her graduate studies in political science at AUB told me that a professor of hers wanted to visit us at one of the bases of the PFLP and that he wanted to get acquainted with the fighters, guns and their use. The man came with the student and was in his 50s and thin and weak-structured. She introduced him to us and there was a quick dialogue which started with a question about the reason for the secret of the interest of this academic with guns. He spoke to us eloquently and interestingly about guns as the main means of struggle for people to gain their rights, and he spoke to us sincerely and intimately about the AK-47. I almost can say that he preread what you wrote after more than 35 years (or that you represented his views), and he said that he could not stay far from the Fida'iyyin and the Kalashnikov and without knowing them at close range. We introduced him quickly to the assembly and disassembly of the Kalashnikov and how to use in shooting and aiming. At first he needed the help of one of the guys, but then he quickly became good at using it and aiming. I never knew anything about the man at the time, but his name and personality and his words stayed in my memory. I saw his name more than once and you mentioned him in your writings with great esteem and a pioneering authority and that he is one of the best who wrote on the modern history of Iraq. The man who could not be forgotten is the late Palestinian professor, Hanna Batatu. I saw him only for a few hours in my life, and read by him and him a little but he stayed imprinted in my memory as was the Kalashnikov..."
