The Marxist Underground
137
Arab Mujahedeen [Holy Warriors] may think [will] help their
cause in the world.
Armed with these letters—one from each of the opposing
camps—and a card from the Arab League accrediting me as a
correspondent, an Ikhwan membership button showing the
Koran and the crossed swords, as well as a green beret and
armband of the Green Shirts, I felt reasonably safe, I might
add that I also had a notarized statement certifying my Christian religion, and a large button showing the Mufti and the
Arab colors.
Another stroke of good luck befell me when Hussein Aboul
Fath, publisher of Al Misri, one of Egypt's leading newspapers, asked me to serve as a special Palestine correspondent,
and gave me a letter of introduction. With the help of this,
I obtained a document even more valuable to me: a letter of
approval from the Mufti's own headquarters, the Arab Higher
Committee, attesting to my sympathy with the Arab cause. I
added this endorsement to my growing collection.
Then, one night at my hotel, I found a message to telephone Hussein.
"Tomorrow the boys are leaving! Be ready! Come early!"
he screamed excitedly.
I spent a feverish night packing, discarding excess items,
writing letters and destroying others. I assembled my precious
notes and film negatives in tightly packed bundles and placed
false labels on them. I put beside my bed an Arab khaffiya
that I would wear, and my Green Shirt armband. To hold my
various credentials, I sewed secret pockets in the nondescript
khaki uniform I had bought. Just as I had finished listing a
number of small items I had to buy, the donkey brayed. It
was tomorrow already. I grinned. I had heard that donkey for
the last time.
My liberation came at six o'clock on the morning of March
31.
Allah rabim! Allah is indeed merciful!