Amos Oz
Two final thoughts from Oz worth the consideration of Israeli
politicians: On the nature of tragedy and the nature of time.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a clash of right and right.
Tragedies are resolved in one of two ways: The Shakespearian way or the
Anton Chekhov way. In a tragedy by Shakespeare, the stage at the end is
littered with dead bodies. In a tragedy by Chekhov everyone is unhappy,
bitter, disillusioned and melancholy but they are alive. My colleagues
in the peace movement and I are working for a Chekhovian not a
Shakespearian conclusion.”
And this: “I live in the desert at Arad. Every morning at 5 a.m. I start
my day by taking a walk before sunrise. I inhale the silence. I take in
the breeze, the silhouettes of the hills. I walk for about 40 minutes.
When I come back home I turn on the radio and sometimes I hear a
politicians using words like ‘never’ or ‘forever’ or ‘for eternity’ —
and I know that the stones out in the desert are laughing at him.”
Sit down with Oz. That is my advice to the next Israeli government — and
to all the deluded absolutists, Arab and Jew, of this unnecessary
conflict whose unhappy but peaceful ending is not beyond the scope of
open-ended human imagination.
Roger Cohen, The New York Times
photo : Stelios Charalampopoulos
