Word: masada
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Even his friends suggest a dark side. "Will Smith is Evander Holyfield, and Martin is Mike Tyson," says Steve White, a Martin writer and onetime Lawrence roommate. "I like Tyson; he'll do anything for you. But he's misunderstood." Jamie Masada, who runs the L.A. comedy club the Laugh Factory, saw a change in Lawrence as fame engulfed him: "The illusion got to his head. He came in with bodyguards, security people. Some people can handle it. But if you're not focused and strong, it can kill...
...cool reason and enlightened choice when he must. But who can say whether the realpolitik pressures of governance will override an ingrained skeptical and vigilant view of the Arab world that underpins Likud's siege mentality? Its fundamental belief, says political scientist Sprinzak, "is, 'We're still at Masada, much stronger, not as isolated, but still a Jewish island in a sea of hostile Arabs." Leaders who can assess their choices only in terms of preconceived, fixed notions, who refuse to benefit from experience, who reject contrary signs of a better course, says historian Tuchman, are the ones doomed...
...Bible was - well, their Bible. The first serious researcher was Edward Robinson, an orientalist at New York City's Union Theological Seminary. In 1837 and 1852 he journeyed to Palestine and identified hundreds of ancient sites by questioning Arabs, who had preserved the traditional names for centuries. Robinson pinpointed Masada. He found a monumental arch supporting the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. "He did more than anybody before or after for biblical topography," says Magen Broshi, curator emeritus of the Dead Sea Scrolls...
...Doesn't it seem to you that just like the Israelis, you have a Masada complex?" I asked Saddam. He nodded his head...