If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
Let me say also thanks, SJ. Furthermore, in a culture replete with oral tradition, having oral agreements would be the norm. Do we expect to find negotiated contracts between UBL and Hussein or between Hussein and Arafat? Even if not, why then assassinate Abu Nidal as Hussein did? All of these dealings could have been written in the sand, agreed to, and smooshed aside with a sandal, or discussed on throw away cell phones.