Editor's Letter

Man in Motion

According to your perceptions or prejudices Yasser Arafat is a sinister master terrorist, a tricky blowhard who hijacks network news with the best P.R. spiel for the current tactic of the P.L.O. coalition, or a brilliant,

messianic leader of a betrayed people. There are as many images of the man as there are interpretations of Resolution 242.

T. D. Allman's report in this issue is not a further dissection of the infinite nuances of the Palestinian question, or more ink in the service of the P.L.O. glasnost, but a portrait of a man in motion. At ten minutes' notice, Allman spent forty hours traveling night and day with Arafat on a plane that was a flying fax machine and a flying arsenal. The journey, with its four red-carpet pit stops in Arab countries, was a parable of Arafat's life: at once resourceful, secretive, valiant, and preposterous. " 'How long were we in Mauritania?' I ask as the plane door slams shut," Allman ° writes. "Arafat glances at his Rolex. 'Two hours § and eleven minutes. . . . Up! Up! Up!' Arafat says, | extending his palms and making lifting motions as the engines accelerate."

The Arafat of Allman's description is part Evelyn Waugh, part Tom Stoppard, a dialectical jester with a burning intent. The report is also, for all one's reservations about Arafat, curiously moving in its portrayal of a man in search of a home address. It gives Vanity Fair readers an insight into a central figure in the unfolding diplomatic dramas.

Editor in chief