From: Al-Awda-News at yahoogroups.com [mailto:Al-Awda-News at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Zahi Damuni Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 3:23 PM To: Al-Awda-News at yahoogroups.com Subject: [AL-AWDA-News] Background and Correction on Quote Attribution
On Friday I posted a quote that was attributed to Ariel Sharon which I had extracted from a message I received from a trustworthy colleague on one of the e-lists I subscribe to. The quote seemed genuine to me in that it summarized Sharon's lifetime criminal achievements and actions ... which of course speak louder than any quotes.
At any rate, it turned out that the quote was not made by Sharon but apparently by another unnamed Israeli military person who may have died in 1991. I wanted to thank the friends for the heads up and for providing background info related to this error with special thanks to Nigel of the Electronic Intifada and Arjan El-Fassed for earlier research.
Background
The original interview, from which the apparently misattributed quote came, was conducted by Amos Oz who had access to many Israeli generals and politicians in that era. He identified some of his interview subjects only by letters of the alphabet.
The interview with "Z" was published in the Israeli newspaper Davar on Dec. 17, 1982, and later republished in a book of Oz's collection of interviews, titled "In the Land of Israel." Davar ceased publication in 1996.
Why "Z" was thought to be Sharon
When the interview first appeared after the Zionist invasion of Lebanon, "Z" was widely assumed to be Sharon because the interviewee was described as a military man "with a certain history," about 50 years of age, heavy-set and a prosperous farmer.
Sharon lost his job as "defense" minister for his responsibility in the Sabra and Shatila massacres of Palestinian refugees in 1982 (to resurface only two years later as cabinet member of a subsequent israeli government). In the interview, "Z" justified the Zionist invasion of Lebanon, and dismissed the massacre of Palestinians with "how can you call 500 Arabs a massacre?"
Incidentally, Oz never revealed who "Z" was and later denied that he had interviewed Sharon.
Again, thanks to all those who provided info for this correction.
In solidarity Zahi