faction had been influenced by the respective ideas and the schisms of Islam of their benefactors. Gaza would never compete against a chastised Lebanon, which though it had thrown off its Syrian occupiers, was held in rein by Israel allowing the dynamism of its different peoples to rediscover prosperity and be reconciled by the memory and pain of its disastrous wars.
David
Global Focus had a more or less official freelance correspondent in Algharb, a Frenchman, who had lived there since the country’s independence. He was a writer, an intellectual, who leaned towards the left with a strong sympathy for the Caliphate and its friends. He was what Parisians had once called gauche caviar.
He was short in stature and strangely addicted to Marlboro cigarettes, long after smoking was no longer fashionable, his cigarette holder had an unhealthy air and his grey moustache was stained yellow by nicotine, as were his fingers.
David was a man who Ennis found to be amiable and helpful; he was pleased to find an affable person to guide him in a country that had undergone so many upheavals over the previous decade.
The temperature was just under thirty-five degrees in the shade; the smell of the overflowing garbage bins outside of the restaurants and the piles of uncollected trash that filled the gutters forced him to avoid breathing through his nostrils. It was unsurprisingly typical in those hot dry countries that struggled with poverty and hygiene, but he had not imagined such conditions in Algharb.
His hotel had the traces of a more prosperous past, when its clients were stylish tourists and visitors from a now forgotten world, richer and more sophisticated. The decline was visible from a glance at the swimming pool, in need of maintenance, an obvious lack of financial means as visitors were few and their stays short.
“Tell me Laurent, is there a fundamentalist movement in the country?”
“Naturally!” he replied forcefully at such a surprisingly naive question from Ennis.
“I’m simply enquiring, I don’t know.”
“It’s clear that the government stifles all information relating to the fundamentalist movement, but that doesn’t stop the Islamists, there are more and more of them, and they’re very active.”
“In the Caliphate that’s a little out of date.”
“You’re right, in the Caliphate the movement’s usefulness has ended, because they got what they wanted, a system based on their traditional values, based on Islam, which I must say has not brought them much in economic terms.”
“In Turkish Levant it works for certain of the Jews and rich Lebanese, even for better off Palestinians, who together control the wealth there, unfortunately the poor are more than ever fixed in their camps, now vast shanty towns.”
“That’s the tragedy of the Palestinians.”
“Yes, endless disaster; colonisations by the Jews, the creation of the Zionist state and repetitive wars.”
“The grievances of the Arab world come in many forms, historical, political and economic to mention just three. To some it commenced with the loss of Andalusia, then the Ottoman conquest and occupation. Those were the starting point of the Arab rejection of foreign cultural values, Europe in the West then the Turks in the East.”
“It’s a complicated story.”
“Maybe, but the problem between different peoples and expulsions are part of history. Most of the Arabs were expulsed from Andalusia in 1492, then the Jews, the Sephardim, which means Spanish in Hebrew, in 1609”
“And it continues even today, the eternal conflict between rich and poor continues. We can see the signs right here, the cultural and economic divergence between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean.”
“Unfortunately you’re right.”
“I know, I’ve seen it in the last weeks, and now I’m witnessing it here, I got a hint of the attitudes at the ministry today.”
“What do you mean?”
“Abdelmoumoun.”
“The Director of National Security?”
“Yes.”
“Be very careful of that man.”
“Really!” replied Ennis with a hint of sarcasm.
“Yes, I’m very serious. The political situation here is very fragile, certain people here have spoken of a threat from Paris.”
“What do you mean?”
David glanced around nervously, “Paris has never accepted the creation of Algharb, plus the humiliation it felt as a great nation. Algharb has in reality never been any more than a temporary solution, a kind of dream, a mirage for the regime here.”
“A temporary solution?”
“Okay let’s talk about it another time,” said David scrutinising Ennis. He was no exception, naive like all Americans. “Be very, very, careful.”
An Invitation to Dinner
On his return to his hotel room he found the water had been cut. He called the reception, they explained it was not the hotel, but a problem with the mains supply; the supply would hopefully be restored at ten.
Ennis swore to himself, he had been looking forward to a refreshing shower after the oppressive heat and humidity of the afternoon.
The TS beeped, he flipped the button and saw the smiling face of Djellali on the mural.
“Good evening John Ennis, it’s Djellali. Is everything going well?”
“Ah, good evening. Yes, everything is fine thank you.”
“This evening, if you are free I would like to invite you to diner.”
“With pleasure,” Ennis replied, relieved to find something to do for the evening.
“Like that we can talk about different things. I’ll pick you up at eight, the hotel restaurant is good.”
Djellali had invited himself to the hotel, it was no a problem for Ennis, though the choice of the restaurant did not please him, he would have preferred one of the small restaurants that surrounded the square nearby the Old Port.
Djellali met him in the lobby and they went directly to the restaurant where the maitre d’hôtel installed them at a table with a panoramic view over the port. Ennis realised it was not a bad idea after all to eat in the hotel restaurant though it appeared to be nearly always nearly empty. He was pleased to note that the air-conditioning was functioning and the temperature was just right.
“Your first day has been agreeable I hope?”
“Yes, very interesting.”
“So what are your first impressions of our country?”
“For the moment, I have a very good impression,” said Ennis smiling politely, “but up to now I’ve seen relatively little.”
“Of course. But you will have certainly noted that it’s very different from the countries of the Caliphate that you’ve just visited.”
“Very different!”
“As you know the philosophy of our country is based on secular principals,” he said as the waiter approached their table making a small bow. Djellali glanced at the waiter, who held his order pad at the ready, then turned his attention to the menu with a slight sneer.
He ordered a diner of fresh boiled shrimps served with a mayonnaise sauce, followed by grilled sole and a bottle of chilled local rosé wine. But to start they took a cold beer to attenuate their thirst after the heat of the day and a small plate of salad between them composed of tomatoes, onions and olives to nibble as an appetiser.
“To your good health and the success of your visit!”
Ennis lifted his glass.
“You see my friend, we have inherited the French secular system and traditions, which might seem a little strange to you, but let me explain.”
Ennis nodded his interest.
“It’s necessary to accept that in Europe, and in particular France, the formation of their modern societies is the result of a long history full of war, death and politico-religious upheavals.”
His eyes shone, Ennis could see that Djellali had embarked on a subject that impassioned him.
“It’s difficult for us today to imagine the people who lived in Europe during the Middle Ages, in a world so different from ours.
An all powerful Church and clergy, an unjust hierarchy, both totally blind to social injustice. Even Americans know that, n'est ce pas?”
“Yes of course.”
“Fortunately a profound transformation has taken place over the centuries, because the Church had always dominated not only the spiritual needs of the population, but also many of its civil institutions, such as marriage, birth, education, hospitals, death and burial. So the Church’s dominated the community and the individual throughout the whole passage of his or her life. Thanks to the great intellectuals like Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot lifted their pens in protest against the oppressive power of the clergy.’
“A little like journalists of today,” Ennis interjected.
“If you like,” Djellali laughed and continued, "it was only with the Republic the Church lost its privileges little by little and France had to wait for the end of the nineteenth century until the divorce between the state and the Church was consummated.”
“Jules Ferry, I believe.”
“Ah, I see you’re familiar with the history of France! That’s exactly right, in 1882 a law rendered primary education obligatory and secular. Moral and religious education became moral and civic education.”
“This corresponded with the acquisition of liberties,” said Ennis concentrating his efforts on his shrimps, removing their heads and carapaces then dipping them in the delicious mayonnaise sauce, washing them down with the chilled white wine. It was a pleasant distraction from the ennuyant lesson of Djellali.
“Right! In 1905 the separation was promulgated under a law that guarantied the free exercise of religions