The Bitter Taste of Dreams Come True

What used to be a local confrontation between the Arab and the Jew has become a global affair.
When I was a child it was rather similar to the conflict in Belfast: a neighborhood against another neighborhood. It evolved into a large-scale conflict between Israel and parts of the Arab world, and unfortunately this coincides with a conflict between the West and Islam. Let me immediately add that I don't believe in the clash of civilizations. It's not about Islam versus Christianity. It's not about East versus West. It's about the fanatics versus the rest of us.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert invited you to his house last year. What did you discuss?
I'm not going into the details, because it was a private conversation, but I can tell you that this is a very common practice in this country. Prime ministers invite writers and poets for a soul-searching tête-à-tête and ask them where the country has gone wrong. And they admire the writer's answers and ignore them completely.

Do you think writers still express the social conscience of the people?
There is a long-standing expectation in the Jewish tradition that the writer and the poet will somehow be the heir of the prophet. Of course, no writer can deliver this, and even prophets were not very successful in their day in changing the minds of the people. But the expectation exists.

You've spoken out against the threatened Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
By doing so we will unite the entire Palestinian people and perhaps the entire Arab world around Hamas. It will raise public opinion for Hamas. If we are not careful we will achieve this consequence. It hasn't happened yet, but it might.

What do you think the people on both sides really want?
The vast majority of the Israeli Jews and the vast majority of the Palestinian Arabs know now that at the end of the day there will be two states, two capital cities in Jerusalem, no massive return of refugees into Israel proper and a removal of most of the settlements. They know it, even people on both sides who don't like it.

Is the Zionist project still alive and kicking?
I think it's a success story, but like any dream that comes true it tastes bitter. The only way to keep a dream rosy and intact is never to try to live it out. This is true not only of creating a nation. This is true of writing a novel, planting a garden, living out a sexual fantasy. Zionism is lived out, and as such it is disappointing. But this is not about the nature of Zionism; this is about the nature of dreams.

Do you think America is helping the peace process?
Yes. I would like to see the U.S. seriously encouraging Israel to make the necessary concessions for a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Encouraging Israel also means reassuring Israel. Israel will have to take huge risks by renouncing the occupied territories, by renouncing some of its defenses. In this respect not only the U.S. but the entire world would help both sides by extending as much empathy to both as possible.