The first item I ever wrote about Palestinians was around 1973, when I was just starting a press column for the Village Voice. It concerned a story in the New York Times about a "retaliatory" raid by the Israeli air force, after a couple of Fatah guer­rillas had fired on an IDF unit. I'm not sure whether there were any fatalities. The planes flew north and dumped high explosives on a refugee camp in Leba­non, killing a dozen or so.

I wrote a little commentary, noting the usual lack of moral disquiet in the Times story about this lethal retaliation inflicted on innocent refugees. Dan Wolf, the Voice's editor, called me in and suggested I might want to reconsider. I think, that first time, the item got dropped. But Dan's unwonted act of censorship riled me, and I started writing a fair amount about the lot of the Palestinians.

Those were the days when Palestinians carried far less news value for editors than Furbish's lousewort, and no politician ever said that this beleaguered plant didn't actually exist as a species, which is what Golda Meir said of Palestinians.

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