Charges of anti-Semitism trouble Tarazi. Hesays many of his political allies are liberalJews, and he argues that one can support aPalestinian homeland without being anti-Semitic ordenigrating the Jews' history as victims ofpersecution.

Tarazi says that view was one reason why heplayed a Jewish character in a campus productionof The Diary of Anne Frank. "I wantedpeople to know that you can be pro-Palestinian,pro-Arab, and not be a Nazi," he says. However,Tarazi adds, "Just because one group has beenpersecuted in the past does not give them theright to persecute in the present."

If Tarazi shocks people, Kaplan says that isnot his roommate's fault. "It shows howconservative things are in 1989 that people sayTrig is so shocking," he says.

Raised in a religious Jewish family, Kaplansays he came to Harvard with an "unreflecting"loyalty to Israel. Tarazi, who was his freshmanroommate, "would come up with different facts,different interpretations than I had heard."

They argued bitterly, as they still do. "Therewere times when we went so far, and went nofurther, for the sake or our friendship," saysKaplan. "Sometimes Trig was insulting--he wouldrefer to me as 'a little newspaper Zionist,' and Ithought he was a crank."

But Kaplan says he respects Tarazi's honesty onexplosive subjects. "Often people do not exposewhat set them at odds with the people they'respeaking to." On the other hand, he says Tarazibelieves in discussing political differences withothers in order to improve relations with them.

Having seen censorship abroad, Tarazi says heplans to use the United States' democraticprotections to the fullest. "We have freedom ofspeech--we don't have the administration sendingin censors," he says.

"I can't blame the rest of American society fornot being understanding if I haven't done my shareto change that understanding," Tarazi says