430
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
his black eyes blazing. "We will do everything to get rid of
the Jewish invader. Everything for the war! Jews are like a
foreign arrow in Arab society. We find it impossible to get
along with them. Our morality is different. Prostitution and
immorality were started by the Jews. Their magazines and
books have filthy pictures in order to weaken human society
so they can destroy it and rule over the world." I sensed a
familiar pattern in Dr. Berghout's views, and I did not have
long to wait to have his source of information confirmed.
"Bolshevism was the creation of International Judaism. The
aim of Bolshevism was to obtain financial benefits from the
rich. In Russia it was the Jews who began the revolution/'
went on Dr. Berghout. "There is a fine book on this subject . . ."
"I know," I said, "The Protocols."
"Exactly the book. Ohhh," the doctor sighed, "nobody in
the West is our sincere friend. Truman is more Zionist than
even the Jews. The English are here for their interest only.
The French are trying to get back their influence. The only
friends we have are in the East. Our only protection lies in
Islam, in the unity of the Arab people."
Like the Falange, the Najada, too, was essentially a youth
organization. Dr. Berghout pointed out that the vice-commander of the Beirut district was "a very strong man." He
was Khalil Mahjoub, a boxer, who invited me to the gymnasium to watch him tear apart his opponents.
I visualized Mahjoub of the Najada grappling with Gemayel
of the Falange—Lebanese Moslem vs. Lebanese Catholic—
and I could not help but feel that East and West would clash
violently, and within my own lifetime. At first there would be
a long and bitter period of psychological warfare between a
coalition of the Falange-Bloc National led by Maronite Catholics, and the hydra-headed Najada-type groups that would
spring up by the score, led by the Berghouts. The outcome
would depend largely on the support, both material and
moral, furnished by the West, for the Maronites alone would