At a conference in Greece, Bassam told the audience that they had to understand that the olive tree was everything to the Palestinian mind. Uprooting an ancient tree, he said to them, was tantamount to smashing a precious artifact in a museum. Take a Cézanne and put your fist through it. Allow a Brâncuși to melt under tremendous heat. Lift a Grecian urn and poke it full of holes.
