T h e L ittle D r u m m e r G irl
99
of noncombatant Palestinians, including women, children, and medical staff, at
the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila by Lebanese Christian militia units which
the Israeli army failed to halt.11
After taking Israel to task so directly in these interviews and newspaper ar
ticles, it is perhaps surprising that le Carre and The Little Drummer Girl did not
receive even greater criticism in the American press. But le Carre’s novel is a much
more complicated text than his interviews and articles. In fact, some reviewers
even found the novel to be anti-Palestinian. John Wyver interpreted The Little Drum
mer Girl as “straightforwardly pro-Israeli. The voices of the security agents are
voices of calm, order, reason and sophisticated common-sense. The few Palestin
ian voices are all strident, instinctive, splattered with jargon.” Marghanita Laski
agreed with these sentiments, asserting that in le Carre’s fictional world the Israe
lis were “marvelous, miraculous, brilliant, unbeatable, so wonderful that the other
side, the inferior if pitiable Arabs, haven’t a chance.”12
Most reviewers in the United States, however, found le Carre to be essentially
even-handed in h