Frequently Asked Questions

Israelis are truth-seekers, not because they are better than other peoples but because the circumstances of their lives have imposed upon them a certain respect for brutal facts. And the most brutal fact is that the Palestinians, their neighbors, still live with the illusion--shared with some other Arabs and with Iran--that Israel is an epiphenomenon that will somehow come undone. Not by itself, but by the force of Palestinian resistance against it.All Israeli policy hinges on the recognition that one daren't let down one's guard. Yet there are still choices. Arriving in Israel yesterday morning, I found the newspapers and conversations, with a driver and in cafes, riveted on what the country's attitude to Mahmoud Abbas should be now that Hamas--the Muslim Brotherhood of Palestine, but even more extreme--has been empowered by a democratic vote in an undemocratic society. Unless Abbas quits, he would still be president. But the presidency of the Palestinian Authority isn't much of an office. It is not formally anything like the office in the United States or, say, in France. He was powerless--or without will--even when Hamas was not in power. It is true that Abbas was not a terrorist like Yasir Arafat (although he was a Holocaust denier). He did not wear a military uniform or a gun or, for that matter, until recently, a kaffiyeh. But, at the same time, he did not stop terrorists from Islamic Jihad, from Hamas, or from the gangs that emerged from his own political party, Fatah. In asserting this--with Hamas forming a government because of its overwhelming legislative majority, Abbas was irrelevant--Tzipi Livni, the current Israeli foreign minister, was asking: If he was useless or powerless even to advance negotiations before, what possible influence can he have when a party that runs what there is of Palestine does not actually want talks at all? It is a powerful question. Dear Jon Stewart, As the entire world knows, this year you'll be hosting the Oscars for the first time. On this august occasion, please allow me to appeal to you as someone who wants to be a fan but hasn't been able to enjoy you so far. Please allow me to appeal to you as a public service. You of all people know public service, since you are the very man who has enlisted comedy in the cause of civic clarity. First: this business of the entire world knowing that you will be hosting the Oscars; this craziness of journalists worrying over how you will handle an "older crowd"; over how you will bear up with distinguished predecessors like Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg gazing at you from their summits of historical accomplishment. Doesn't all this attention to an event of almost astronomical triviality make you worried? I ask because you seem actually to care about the quality of cultural and political life--there was your now- legendary moment with Tucker Carlson, for example, when you demanded that political talk shows get serious. Demanded. Live free or die, dude. But then you went and had on the Hollywood lackey Roger Ebert, whose highly visible coverage of the Oscars will, of course, include his evaluation of you. Jon, be honest. Has being Mr. Civic-Minded Serious Satirist of Our Debased Public Life merely become a successful shtick for you, based on its unexpected popularity during the 2004 presidential campaigns?

By Martin Peretz; Lee Siegel