Amos Oz wants divorce

Amos Oz on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"It's not a war of cultures, nor one of religions, even if certain people wish it were. It all revolves around the simple question: who owns the land? Our country is tiny. Both peoples have a right to be there. How could anyone dispute the fact that it's the home of the Palestinians? Which it is, just as Holland is home to the Dutch. And equally who would question the Jews' right to the land? Historically it's clear this is the only homeland they have, there's never been another. In this situation there's no good and bad as Europeans often like to believe. It's not a western film; it's not a fight between good and evil. It's a real tragedy because it amounts to a conflict between two rights to entitlement."

"Help us divorce!" He thinks the Wall might be helpful in stabilising the 'divorce'. It certainly worked in Berlin; the stabilisation, I mean. It was not a 'solution', but it kept the situation from deteriorating dangerously until a solution could be found. There is no just solution in Israel/Palestine; there can't be because of the contradiction that Oz points out. A wall might give enough stability for Palestine to develop some institutions and an economy, to become a country of sorts.

He says at one point, "We need to make peace, not love".

Original article (in French). Translation above from signandsight.