"Larry Hollingworth, 63 . . . was the guy with the long, white Santa Claus beard who led all those convoys through Serb lines to Muslim villages. It made him a real media star, and he deserved it. He's a really courageous fellow. Larry, a retired British army colonel, says the Israeli checkpoints are "like kindergarten" compared to the Serb ones. "Here we are dealing with arrogant, bored, inquisitive 18- and 19-year-olds—not drunken Serbs. The worst that happens to us is that we're delayed," he says.Remember, that's a UN guy talking.
Ian Rimell, a 52-year-old Brit, is an explosive-ordnance-disposal expert. . . . "There was a lot of Israeli stuff, including missiles which they said they didn't use," he harrumphs. "But most of it was Palestinian. We found six factory sites with components for making bombs. They were even making their own gunpowder . . . We refuse to tell the Israelis where we find stuff because we're afraid they might take retribution by knocking down the houses there . . . .And there were instances when guys with guns would show up and demand their bombs back," says Ian, who has done similar work in Kosovo, Albania, and Bosnia. "I always give it back--I have a wife and family."
I've been reading Sylvia's columns for a while now and no matter how tentative she is, the minute she defends Israel in any way at all, there are three letters in the next issue of the Voice jumping all over her. I think this is her subtle way of getting the Voice audience to swallow the truth of Jenin - by sugarcoating it (so to speak) in sympathy for the poor victimized Palestinians. What do you think?
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