Quote by Christopher Hitchens

I was taken to a villa to meet Sabri al-Banna, known as 'Abu Nidal' ('father of struggle'), who was at the time emerging as one of Yasser Arafat's main enemies. The meeting began inauspiciously when Abu Nidal asked me if I would like to be trained in one of his camps. No thanks, I explained. From this awkward beginning there was a further decline. I was then asked if I knew Said Hammami, the envoy of the PLO in London. I did in fact know him. He was a brave and decent man, who in a series of articles in the London had floated the first-ever trial balloon for a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine. 'Well tell him he is a traitor,' barked my host. 'And tell him we have only one way with those who betray us.' The rest of the interview passed as so many Middle Eastern interviews do: too many small cups of coffee served with too much fuss; too many unemployed heavies standing about with nothing to do and nobody to do it with; too much ugly furniture, too many too-bright electric lights; and much too much . The only political fact I could winnow, from Abu Nidal's vainglorious claims to control X number of 'fighters' in Y number of countries, was that he admired the People's Republic of China for not recognizing the State of Israel. I forget how I got out of his office.

Summary

In this quote, the speaker recounts a meeting with Sabri al-Banna, also known as Abu Nidal, who was a known enemy of Yasser Arafat. The meeting starts off on an uncomfortable note when Abu Nidal offers to train the speaker in one of his camps. The tension escalates when the speaker is asked about Said Hammami, a PLO envoy in London, and is told to inform him that he is considered a traitor. The rest of the interview is described as typical of Middle Eastern interviews, with excessive coffee, unemployed individuals, unnecessary lighting, and a self-aggrandizing display of Abu Nidal's supposed control over fighters in various countries. The speaker concludes by mentioning their inability to remember how they managed to leave Abu Nidal's office.