Amos Oz

Duiker wrote the following in World History: From 1500

The internationally renowned novelist Amos Oz is a vocal supporter of peace with the Palestinians. Oz is a member of Peace Now and the author of political tract titled Israel, Palestine, and Peace.

In a 2002 interview, Oz accused both Ariel Sharon and Yasir Arafat of being "immovable, handcuffed to the past and to each other." With the Arabs feeling victimized by colonialism and the Jews by Nazi Germany, each side believes that it alone is the rightful proprietor of ancient Palestine.

Oz has refused to serve as standard-bearers for Zionism and is speaking out on sensitive national issues. He denounces the following:

Israel continues to violate international law, by failing to:

1) end its occupation of all Arab lands and to dismantle the Apartheid wall;

2) grant full equality to Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel; and

3) respect the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

For Oz, the only solution is compromise, which, however unsatisfactory for both sides, is preferrable to mutual self-destruction.

I believe like Amos Oz on the necessity of two nation states, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace. He believes and I believe that Israel must cede land and give support to Palestinian refugees.

Amos Oz said, 'If every last Palestinian refugee was settled in the West Bank and Gaza, it would still be less crowded than Belgium'

Aida Edemariam wrote on the Guardian (2009),

"Over the years, Amos Oz has developed a formulation that he repeats like a refrain: the situation in the Middle East is "a clash between right and right - the Palestinians are in Palestine because they have no other place in the world. The Israeli Jews are in Israel for the same reason - they have no other place in the world. This provides for a perfect understanding and a terrible tragedy."