"Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate."

"The intellectual's role is to be an amateur, someone who considers that what he does is not a way of making a living but is an activity that takes place during free time."

"The United States has been a major player in the Middle East for a long time, and its policies have often been detrimental to the people of the region."

"It is quite common to hear high officials in Washington and elsewhere speak of changing the map of the Middle East, as if ancient societies and myriad peoples can be shaken up like so many peanuts in …"

"The Palestinian people have been systematically erased."