64
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
and by the will of Allah that is a blessing in disguise. The
Jews have brought the Arabs together. We are united. The
world will respect us when we show our power. After we
liberate the Arab world from the English and the Jew, we'll
liberate the whole Moslem world from imperialism." His
large brown eyes on fire, Hussein seemed to derive orgiastic
pleasure from these visions. "Then we will have peace. The
fire of unity burns in us. A peasant may not be ready to fight
tomorrow, but he is ready to be killed today. Peasants used to
mutilate themselves to avoid military duty. Now they volunteer. They are mad with the joy to die for Allah. As for the
Zionist Jew . . ." Hussein picked up an issue of Misr el Fattat, the publication of the Green Shirts, and interpreted to
me as he read:
LET OUR MOTTO BE:
DEATH FOR THE ZIONISTS EVERYWHERE
AS JUST RETRIBUTION FOR THEIR BARBARISM
The Zionists are behaving like wild filthy beasts and they
must therefore be treated as such. . . . Are we to be slaughtered like sheep by the Zionists and do nothing? We must cut
their throats as they cut ours. It is our duty to slaughter the
Zionists in Egypt as just retribution for Zionist atrocities in
Palestine. We must burn their homes and their shops and
then hold them as hostages and kill ten Zionists every time
an Arab child or woman in Palestine is murdered by the
Zionist beast.
I was back the next day—with my camera. As I waited to
see Hussein, one of his aides listed for me the basic Green
Shirt principles: "Talk only Arabic. . . . Buy your goods
from an Egyptian. . . . Wear clothes made in Egypt. . . .
Eat Egyptian food. . . ." At this moment Hussein sent word
that he wanted to see me, and I was ushered hastily into his
office. Half a dozen others were there. I was asked to sit down.
They stared openly at me, talked among themselves, and then
to Hussein. He replied heatedly, and turned to me.