Lenses and tripods.

• Author: Rothschild, Matthew
• Position: Edward Said on the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin - Interview - Editorial

Ten days after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, Edward Said came to Madison. I was interested in hearing what the leading Palestinian dissident in America had to say about this horrible act of violence, and what effect he thought it would have on the peace process. Said had denounced the accords between Yasir Arafat and Rabin in these pages ("A Palestinian Versailles," November 1993) and in The Nation (October 16, 1995), and I wondered how he foresaw the future.

Before giving a lecture at the university, he made room in his schedule for a half-hour conversation with me on my radio program, Second Opinion.

Said himself has received more than his share of death threats from far-right Zionists, so he has an appreciation for the effects of overheated rhetoric. "I've taken an incredible amount of verbal abuse--especially in this country--the likes of which I've never seen in my life," he told me. "And we know now that the cover's been lifted after Rabin's assassination" on the consequences of such "verbal filth."

But Said did not join the American media in bestowing sainthood on Rabin.

"I think this really was the worst moment for the American press. I've never seen such idiocy. American reporters in Israel asking Israelis, 'Has Israel's innocence been lost?' I mean, this is a country steeped in the destruction of Palestinian society, Palestinian blood. And talk about political assassinations! I mean, only two weeks before, Rabin had given the order for the assassination of [Islamic Jihad leader] Fathi Shqaqi in Malta. He didn't deny it. He was quite proud: 'Another terrorist has been killed.' So to make it seem as if this was a ceremony of aggrieved innocence is really grotesque, monstrous."

Said has no illusions that things will be different for Palestinians now that Shimon Peres is prime minister. "The continuity is quite clear," Said told me. "Peres has the reputation for being kind of a dove. My feeling is that Peres is the same as Rabin. It's the same thing. He was defense minister. One was the good cop; one was the bad cop. There's no reason for any change." As if to bear Said out, shortly after taking over, Peres launched an attack on Palestinians in Lebanon.

Now Said is dedicating himself to the task of trying to improve the peace process. When he spoke with me, he denounced it again as "a kind of entrapment," but it's a fact of life. "The agreement has gone through and it's sticking," he said. "There is a new reality. It's useless...