The Prime Minister of Israel sits down with Arafat at the
beginning of negotiations regarding the resolution of the
conflict.
The Prime Minister requests that he be allowed to begin with
a story. Arafat replies, "Of course."
The Prime Minister begins his story: "Years before the
Israelites came to the Promised Land and settled here,
Moses led them for 40 years through the desert. The
Israelites began complaining that they were thirsty and, lo
and behold, a miracle occurred and a stream appeared
before them. They drank their fill and then decided to take
advantage of the stream to do some bathing--including
Moses. When Moses came out of the water, he found that
all his clothing was missing.
"'Who took my clothes?' Moses asked those around him.
"'It was the Palestinians,' replied the Israelites -- "
"Wait a minute," objected Arafat immediately, "there were
no Palestinians during the time of Moses!"
"All right," replies the Prime Minister, "Now that we've got
that settled, let's begin our negotiations."