After three hours he turns up again; full after a heavy meal and very pleased with himself. He heard everything that was said. The old man came to offer peace. The village of Sukreir doesn’t want war. The villagers are prepared to surrender under the condition that we protect them. In the village there is only one warlike person who sup-ports the Mufti.8 The Mukhtar suggests setting a trap for him, so that we can take care of him. He has a long list with him covering all the weapons in the village.
Sancho scratches his ear - a sign that he is inclined to philosophize. "Listen, my friend" - full of enthusiasm - "I am wasting my time here. The infantry is OK for Zuzik and that donkey Musa, but not for someone with my intelligence."
"The infantry is the queen of the battlefield," I quote from a book whose title I have forgotten.
"Yes, because she gets fucked by everybody," explains Sancho. "In brief, that’s nothing for me. I have discovered my true military call-ing. Can you guess what that is?"
I have no idea.
"We need a special unit for political work among the Arabs," he explains. "That is the job for me! These Fellaheen have no taste at all for war. We could make peace with them in a moment. We just have to find out who wants peace in each village, give them some money, and wipe out the Effendis9 who still support the Mufti. In a month our regime will be recognized by all villages."
"And if the Arab states march in with their armies?"
"If the population is on our side there will be no invasion. And if it did come to an invasion, we’ll arrange a civil war among the Arabs. We will always be able to find some to fight on our side. They just have to see that we support the Fellaheen and fight against the Effendis. All we need is a little intelligence."
"You should take some leave and explain that to Ben-Gurion," I suggest.
Sancho’s enthusiasm wilts. "There’s no point. You don’t under-stand anything," he complains. "It would be much better to work with the Arabs rather than attacking them and dying. If you want to die -1 don’t care. You can all die and set up your own tombstones. But count me out. The infantry is not my thing."
* * *