Today I met (thanks to my fixer) Mohammed Fneish, member of Hezbollah, and minister of energy, before Hezbollah decided to quit the cabinet.
A charming man. He offered me a pencil – he thought that the pencil I was using for my notes was much too short.
At the end of our conversation he wanted to keep my short pencil as a souvenir. (I could keep his long pencil.)
But then I explained to him that my short pencil has traveled with me to Afghanistan, to Kosovo, to Montenegro, to Paraguay, to Poland and to Guantánamo Bay. It was a gift from my amante, and I could not leave it in Lebanon.
He was able to understand this.
On the rumors I have heard that the secret negotiations between Israel and Hezbollah on a prisoner exchange have a deadline of May 24 Mr. Fneish was not able to comment.