I was struck by the words “Compromise is unhappy.” So true. To compromise, each party has to decide that the status quo is worse than the unhappy compromise. Unfortunately, Netanyahu loves power more than he loves his country and views any compromise as a loss to his own stature and power. In this way, he is much like Arafat and other autocratic Arab leaders who have failed their own flocks in recent history. Both cultivated an extreme and uncompromising base for their power to which they could not, or would not, untether themselves.
Compromise also requires a level of humility, and humility requires empathy. Today’s autocratic strongmen like Netanyahu (and Trump) are constitutionally incapable of demonstrating these qualities because they view them as a risk to their own power.
Amos Oz was great communicator and thought leader—a wise, contemplative, humble man in a current world of thoughtless, arrogant bullies mascarading as leaders.
100
I remember the day I first discovered Amos Oz's wonderful writing. He has inspired me in some many incalculable ways. A great human being and a great soul. May his works and the example of his life reach future generations.
73
Every person regardless of faith, origin, color of skin, and so on deserves some sort of feeling of belonging. That does not require a particular piece of land, which is the fallacy of entire human race. (not just in the ''holy land'' )
Having said that, I think in the very near future (3 or 4 years or so ) the stars will be aligned along with Liberal leaders all around that will finally bring about some sort of compromise of a two state solution.
This is only going to be a temporary solution (maybe just a generation or two) whereas our planet is going to require a solution to overcrowding and dwindling resources (especially water)
People of all faiths and of none are going to be the two groups then that will need to come together to save us all. There will no longer be lines drawn in the sand or elsewhere.
There will only be the circle of this planet and of life.
47
I don’t know if I agree that in a few years there will be a liberal solution to this problem. This reminds me of how I thought before Trump won. It was inconceivable that he would win.
38
@BillBo
With this administration, it was inconceivable because we think in terms of right and wrong, and laws, but somehow the powers that be from far away tipped the balance of the scale. I see the scales being tilted towards Liberalism far more now in the backlash. - hence me prediction.
Keep the faith. It will happen. Watch.
30
@FunkyIrishman God helps them who help themselves. Keep the faith, but keep resisting. Or, as Joe Hill put it, organize!
16
Amos Oz understood that civilization is not natural. Humanity is not natural. These are inventions, collections of ideas, stories we have told ourselves that become the spaces where we live.
Like all artificial constructions, they are fragile, contingent, in need of care and attention. They are not necessary.
Tribalism, hate/fear/violence toward the Other - these are natural. Orthodoxy of all kinds, minds embracing simpler versions of reality than actually exist, revulsion against complexity, the nasty truths of history, and the inherent difficulties of finding workable solutions to competing demands of the many. Yes, these are natural, default settings for us. So what?
Do we retreat from the ever-increasing demands of living in a more crowded and precarious world? Or do we find better stories to tell ourselves and our children that will inspire us to do the hard work of becoming more human? Do we venture forward, as the Japanese proverb tells us - "An inch ahead is darkness" - or do we retreat into comforting certainties?
I know what Amos Oz would tell us. No one owns truth. No people own the truth. It is stubborn, refuses to cooperate, to bend to our needs and demands. And nothing lasting or genuinely good can be built without it.
Will we be found worthy, resourceful enough to endure and flourish, or not?
131
Actually, there’s good solid science to argue that civilization is as natural to humans as anything else about them.
16
@paultuae
Thank you for a very elegant and lyrical summary. You have enlightened my drairy morning full of mist in NYC.
19
@paultuae
If you consult the works of greater thinkers than yourself, say Darwin and Freud, you'd come across the persuasive idea that civilization is as rooted in mankind's evolutionary cycle as the lungs we breathe from. Maybe we are, at present, marching through minefields along the evolutionary road wherein your notion of hate/fear/violence, as mankind's natural state, will be, one day, eradicated, stamped out of our genetic code. If so, then visionaries like Amos Oz will be proven correct in their belief that one word - compromise - holds the key to paving the way, more quickly, to our evolutionary destiny.
19
Art is the best hope for humanity.
Art connects all of us as people and forces us to look beyond our individual selves.
Art can speak to everyone no matter their mother tongue.
Art is made from creative minds that won't settle for taking anything at face value.
Incidentally, it is pretty conspicuous how Trump has no use for art. He cares not for literature and shows no interest in music or visual arts. Not surprisingly, he is stuck on himself, has no fresh perspectives, disdains those who don't seem like him, and exacerbates divisions between people. Remember how deeply cultured President Obama is, in contrast? How much does it say about a leader if they can't even appreciate art?
146
@NM. Shelley said that poets are the legislators of the world. But I can’t think of any poets or their poetry in modern times who have changed the world or history. That’s not what most good poets set out to do. They don’t change the political world at all. A great writer Solzhenitsyn wrote Gulag archipelago but this was non fiction. A factual rather than artistic representation exposed the Soviet system for what it was. Uncle Tom’s cabin affected history and rallied abolitionists but it is not great art. A much greater novel Huckleberry Finn addressed slavery but in a truly artistic rather than in a political way. Are you saying Trump isn’t a good president because he has no use for art? I dare say few of our presidents alluded to their artistic tastes or had very many because they knew that they have little to no applicable value with the electorate. Lincoln knew the Bible and Shakespeare and did turn this knowledge to good political effect in the rhetoric of his speeches but his political ideas came from elsewhere.
2
@Richard: trump's "lack of use for art" is least among the things that make him not a good president. I believe the hope posters from the Obama campaign would fit your "applicable value with the electorate" criteria, although they were not created by a poet. Thank you for the challenge to find poetry that is the legislature of the world. A beautiful thing to search for, indeed, poetic in and of itself.
16
@NM
And what does it say about a leader if they never laugh, except for himself after belittling and/or vulgarly attacking those who don't agree with him, the one in the Oval Office?
35
Nice. I don't get enough of this guy in the NYT.
3
“The right of return is a euphemism for the liquidation of Israel.” It seems to be an exaggeration, is it not?.
A compromise would be to allow Palestinians refugees, born in Israel (the youngest would be 70 years by now) to return to Israël, with the right to receive visitors.
It would be a very strong image; an older man with a white and black head scarf returning home. It would enhance very much the process of reconciliation too.
5
Thanks for a great column.
6
How unfortunate that people like Amos Oz leave this valley of tears and the ones we we would want to leave stay.
6
If you could make religion go away with a snap of your fingers, you could make this problem (and so many others) go away as well. But, I suppose, people would then find something else to fight about.
8
Thank you for this wonderful portrait of Mr. Oz, who for all the honors bestowed upon him, is still underappreciated. Compromise and cowardice are two sides of the same coin that Mr. Oz returned to in most of his books. A willingness to admit that difference and change exist may not make for happiness, but allows for compromise and a more progressive view of humanity. Cowardice is all around us in those people with a view of an unchanging world that spins around them, all evidence to the contrary be damned.
3
I will be more optimistic about peace when the Palestinians are as critical of their leaders as the Jews are of theirs.
12
“Jews will be just fine trusting those who they have no cause to trust!”
First, who is speaking there? And does the speaker mean “Jews” or does he mean “ Israelis”? Are they being conflated? And who is it that can’t be trusted? Palestinians? It is hard for Israeli Jews to trust Palestinians, given that Israel could only exist as a majority Jewish state by expelling the majority of Palestinians and keeping them out. Plus both sides have committed a long list of atrocities and there has been plenty of hatred on both sides. This all tends to happen in these situations. Look at the interaction between whites and Native Americans in our own history.
Writers and literary people tend to think great writers have some sort of moral authority, but this is a delusion, just as it is a delusion to think that great scientists or great painters must be moral paragons. And liberal Zionists also seem to think they float above the fray and can lay down the moral law to Palestinians and other lesser beings like God on Mt Sinai carving out the Ten Commandments. It might seem that way in a newspaper column, but I am going to guess that Palestinians have a different view, and ( work with me here) they may not recognize Amos Oz as a prophet.
4
I wish I had known more about this amazing man. As a non-Jew, whenever I comment on the same things Oz mentions: the settlements, Netanyahu, I am called an anti-semite. Rest in peace.
7
According to the Times of Israel, the Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas wrote Oz’s widow: “‘With great sorrow, we received the news of the death of the excellent writer and thinker Amos Oz,’ Abbas wrote in his letter, calling Oz ‘a defender of just causes and a supporter of peace and dignified life.’” It’s not much, but why not start a new peace process with a discussion of Oz’s vision—a discussion in which Palestinians, Israelis and those in this comment section who dismiss Oz as naive all participate. Such a process would be better than one led by the son-in-law of a president who can’t understand much about the holy land except the wall.
10
"Two children of same cruel parent look at one another and see in each other the image of the cruel parent or the image of their past oppressor. This is very much the case between Jew and Arab: It's a conflict between two victims."
Read Amos Oz to fathom a fathomless depth of compassion. He was a very great man.
10
When I see how our own, home-grown fear-monger-in-chief, by ranting about "hordes" of "criminal illegal aliens," "drug dealers" and "rapists" "invading" our country, not only gets a pass on but is praised for militarizing our border and wasting $5 billion on a "big, beautiful wall," I find it difficult to judge Israelis for supporting their own panderer-for-power given that we face zip, zero, zilch threat at our borders especially when compared to a whole bunch of real threats we face like climate change, gun mania, a hardening plutocracy, a military/prison/pharma industrial complex, corruption/corruption/corruption at all levels of power, etc.
7
Since the conquest of Palestine by the Romans and the second diaspora, the Jews have lived as an oppressed minority.
The Spanish Inquisition and expulsion, the later expulsion from Portugese Brazil, the Romanov shtetl and the Pale of Settlement, the Stalinist Gulag, the Ukrainanian pogroms, and the German instigated pan European Holocaust all justified the foundation of Israel by secular Zionists. The birth of Israel was secured by the United Nations in 1948.
In three quarters of a century the Ultra Orthodox Settler Movement enabled by an ultra conservative Likud that professes Jewish ethno-nationalism have obliterated the Jewish Enlightenment that began with an assimilationist Reform Judaism in the mid nineteenth century.
Today The nation state of contemporary Israel has evolved into a reactionary ultra nationalust theocratic state willing to accept the perpetual subjugation of the Palestinian Diaspora that Israel itself created between 1948 and 1973. It perpetuates this pale of settlement ghetto by refusing to negotiate a two state solution championed by Amos Os and others. Unfortunately, the current Israeli government necessarily destroys the foundational moral principles of the Jewish people and their culture in pusuit of their one state solution.
13
Even the early Israelis, between 1948 and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, who believed in liberal democracy and voted for Labor, looked down, condescendingly on Palestinians and tacitly supported settlement of the West Bank.
I remember visiting Israel with my family in the 1960s and hearing Israelis and American Jews both remarking with PRIDE how Jews had made the desert bloom, while overtly or covertly disparaging the backward Palestinians.
Of course, the Palestinians haven’t helped themselves by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory at every turn. The Israelis as the victors had a chance,but also blew it. That’s why both are dancing the Dance-of-Death.
4
Oz was a terrific writer; he is right, the right of return is a call to destroy Israel as the Jewish homeland and he is right that without a homeland the Jews are doomed. But Peace Now has strayed ftom those beliefs, becoming too left wing radical. In the here and now, I will believe that the Palestinians truly are ready to accept a true peace when they produce a Palestinian Oz or a Palestinian peace now. They have not produced any such thing and they have not produced a democracy (Palestinian Authority) but have produced a racist entity calling for Israel's destruction(Hamas)
The Jews are still waiting for a legitimate partner for peace.
8
Ethnonationalist bigots are on the march, in the person of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, among many others, and I am no longer a particular supporter of the State of Israel. Why should I be? I'm just a mid-west farm boy goy, who learned about the Jewish state as a young man and respected it's intelligence, tolerance, and courage. But today, not so much. They have more bombs and bigger missiles than any of their neighbors, so I figure they can take care of themselves. I'd rather see my tax dollars spent to fight global warming.
5
Who is the Palestinian Arab Amoz Oz, calling for acceptance of Jews and Israel, and critiquing the Palestinian Arab and other Arab leaders for not reaching "unhappy compromises?"
8
Roger Cohen is right that death spared a great man like Amos Oz having to see a corrupt blowhard like Benjamin Netanyahu achieve the temporary dismantling of the two-state solution for which good men and women in Israel have worked so hard.
Netanyahu has been busy demonizing the Palestinians to make taking or destroying their historic homes palatable to Americans and Europeans, most of whom wonder what comes next.
The adopted name “Oz” apparently has two meanings in Hebrew, and strength is one of them. For Amos Oz the other meaning – courage – seems even better.
5
The apartheid in Israel had its birth when the UN gave Israel land in 1948, and the world has been indifferent to the Palestinian plight since. This legacy may never be overcome, but it certainly won't be with Trump et al and Netanyahu at the reins.
2
The last line sums it up ("the shrieking of the cowards who would call themselves leaders."). Today's world is being destroyed by a conspiracy of cowards and bullies (Trump, Netanyahu, Salman), whose sole aim is to retain power at no matter what cost to their citizens and neighbours.
What possible motivation was there for a Christian draft evader, a Zionist and a head-chopping Muslim madman to join forces, other than their common interest in power and money?
Yes, people like Oz and Rabin (and the brave editors of Ha'aretz) are hard to come by. And this is why the only sensible solution, a two state solution, will remain a dream until the day when the world is cleansed of such self-serving cowards.
4
It's a real shame that voices like Netanyahu get heard louder and more often than a voice such as Oz. I have been so upset with Netanyahu's policies regarding illegal settlements, the shooting of an innocent medic (to name one incident of many) and the apartheid policy toward Palestinians. Yes you did deserve a country but that didn't include stealing land from others who owned it for centuries. I don't loathe Israel or Jews but I do loathe Netanyahu and those who follow him just as I loathe trump and his group.
4
“The right of return is a euphemism for the liquidation of Israel.”
And the “two state solution” is a euphemism for Bantustans.
1
Netanyahu, I don't doubt, is secretly relieved that Oz is gone and can speak no more.
2
Well said, as both sides are petty to the extreme, and contributing mightily to this stupid 'apartheid' that keeps two diverse people wanting to call their land their home...while dehumanizing each other. This saga is violently sad, and with no apparent remedy in sight. This, as there is no 'will' to solve it, a shame all around, seemingly unredeemable. However long this injustice has been going on, it cannot be called 'normal' by any stretch of the imagination. Life being so precious, and too short for our liking, can't we learn to get along? Perhaps Einstein was right, stupidity remains in ample supply.
9
“Building settlements in occupied territories was the single most grave error and sin in the history of modern Zionism, because it was based on a refusal to accept the simple fact that we are not alone in this country,”
However, American readers should remember that our foundational manifest destiny was to build settlements in occupied territories. And that our two state solution of tribal lands vs. the rest of America is hardly just compensation for those acts.
6
let's not forget that Roger helped enable Trump by belittling president Obama and Hillary Clinton.
1
“The right of return is a euphemism for the liquidation of Israel" as a Jewish State, I would add. The question not asked or answered is why cannot Israel/Palestine, a bi-national state, fulfill the needs of both Jews and Palestinians allowing everyone to live where they wish in peace, while respecting the rights of both?
Most Jews who live outside Israel in countries like the United States, England, France, and many others are doing just fine. While most of them love Israel and the thought of a Jewish homeland, many also recognize that the Palestinians who lived their for centuries deserve full and free participation to live in their ancestral homeland.
One cannot escape the fact that Israel is currently a bi-national state with only one nationality living free. There is no reason why people cannot change and hostilities cannot evaporate in time. If South Africa could end Apartheid and survive even thrive, an Israel/Palestine could as well.
Two nations living side by side with gerrymandered borders, one dominant with an enormous military and the other emasculated cannot survive in peace. One State with constitutional rights for both nationalities to live side by side free and with equal rights, just might.
6
Moses was not allowed into the promised land. God had commanded Moses to speak to the rock. Instead, Moses struck the rock with his staff.
I really hope that Times editors value Cohen's writing as much as I do: each paragraph evocative, sending me into a reverie of ideas. His topics are comically non-clickbait. But while his topics are often alien to me, Cohen's moral discipline, nuance, and thoughtfulness encourage me to be a better person. Not many people comment on his columns. But the comments that do appear are often of high enough quality to merit their own columns. Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for your gifts.
6
Roger, I have great respect for Amos Oz. But you and he refuse to come to terms with the original sin of Israel -the fact that the state was created on land occupied by another people and that the only way to have a Jewish and democratic state was to ethnically cleanse the land of that people. This happened in 1948, long before 1967. Even if one believes that Jews "deserved" a country of their own, that does nothing to delegitimize the Palestinian cause or their understandable and justifiable sense of injustice. The tragedy of Israel is that it could only exist by committing atrocities against the indigenous Arab population of Palestine. That is the simple reality. Making excuses for it is not the same as accepting responsibility for what Israel did. The brutality of the ongoing settlement of Palestinian land simply compounded the problem and underlined that the refusal to come to terms with Israel's original sin made it much easier to pile even more dispossession and injustice on the Palestinians. After all, if you can't accept the reality of 1948, why would you feel any differently about taking everything the Palestinians have left after 1967?
12
Sad, that OZ became a relic in Israel. He should have been its guiding light. Left unsaid in the article is the fact that as Israel continues to act like the very countries that demonized and killed Jews for so long, it surrenders the reason for its existence.
Should Israel sacrifice itself on the altar of enlightened principles? Not at all but the struggle to merge Arab hatred with Jewish hatred calls for, as the article says, an 'unhappy compromise.' Absent that, Israel's metamorphosis into a repressive, callous state will continue. History is replete with examples of what that leads to.
8
Last year I read a lot of good books, one that stands out is Mr. Oz's novel "judas". It was an interesting take on the Christian Judas, but there was another Judas and therein lies the story. Even though I am a Christian I have always believed in Israel and its 'right to exist'. It is difficult to see what Netanyahu and his settlement addicts have done to make Israel a pariah nation. Palestinians and their rights should be of concern to all. However, it also makes for a wonderful cover for anti-semitism. I don't know if enough Israelis understand this. And Israel is making a big mistake in embracing Trump, Jared and Evangelicals. It is sad a man like Amos Oz is gone. America made a huge mistake electing Trump and why Israelis keep electing Netanyahu is beyond me.
5
I suspect my previous comment was too sarcastic to be published. Perhaps so. Here is version two.
Firstly, many people think that being a great novelist makes you a moral guru. It’s not true. At best such people might have some insights which they can express more beautifully than the rest of us, but they also have the same biases as the rest and the beautiful words may mask this.
In the case of Amos Oz, he was a liberal Zionist, a term which covers a very wide range of viewpoints. On the one end it just means lip service to Palestinian rights and at the other it means a real recognition of Palestinian pain, meaning a willingness to listen and actually push hard for a just solution. People here seem to think Oz fell closer to the second end. I think he comes across very clearly as condescending, as though he stood above the fray and had the right to tell Palestinians what rights they could or could not have. The problem with this is that both sides have legitimate claims to live in Israel/Palestine and Palestinians do not lose their right to live in their own homeland simply because Amos Oz says they can’t. A one state solution might seem impossible to achieve, but an ideology based on one ethnic group’s rights to expel another will end quite naturally with the kind of state Israel has become.
But as an American, my concern is that we “ single out” Israel for unending support. If they insist on apartheid, cut them loose.
4
Reading this wonderful column reminded me that many people, politicians included, view compromise as a win for their opponents. This kind of mindset is driven first and foremost by the Sin of Pride, the gateway for envy, gluttony, lust, anger, and sloth.
27
Mr. Cohen,
Thank you.
How sad that such a man had to die with the shadow of Trump and Netanyahu in his eyes. How wonderful that he lived.
5
Well said, Roger. It's high time Netanyahu showed the necessary courage to push the Israelis toward a sober and realistic approach toward a three state solution. He must involve all the necessary players including Iran, Hezbollah, Syria, and the leadership in Gaza. Abas and Fatah because they command so much respect in the West Bank must be key players in brokering a just and lasting peace.
8
I’m a fan of Amos Oz and was saddened by his death. I was, and remain, impressed by his compassion for people that includes the plight of the Palestinians. That is heroic.
Reality in the world, not just the Middle East, is not neatly formed by ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ and unfortunately runs it’s own irrational nuanced path. Jews should hold themselves to a higher standard and recognize the plight of the Palestinians because they experienced it themselves. It’s another matter for the rest of the world to hold Israel, oftentimes singled out, to a higher standard than other nations and frame the conflict as ‘brutal’ Israel vs ‘victim’ Palestinians.
I don’t like Trump nor Netanyahu but am not convinced they are the source of the problem. Think of the historic peace agreement between Begin and Arafat, two intractable and hardly admirable leaders.
If only the situation could be solved with a simple binary logic that both sides simply need to give up something, shake hands and live in peace forever.
I am a Jew and feel sympathetic to the tragic plight of the Palestinians. I am also a Jew who wants the world to treat Israel equitably instead of constantly singling Israel out as the ‘bad’ actor. I say this to the New York Times as well. This lopsided world opinion only serves Netanyahu, Trump and hardline Israelis who turn this into an emboldened defense of their harsh policies.
27
@Joe
I am an American Jew as well and believe that there is a need for a home for the Jewish people.
That said, I disagree with you about both Netanyahu and trump. Both men, in their ignorance and self-enrichment, are throwing more accelerant upon the fire. Both men need to be held accountable for their sheer stupidity.
We Jews have lived through many centuries of injustice, have we not learned that simple lesson and if not now, when.
9
@Joe
Maybe Trump and Netanyahu are not the source of the problem, but clearly they are not the solution either. Unless your solution is the end of humanity. That would clearly be the final solution.
2
Watching PBS's segments on individuals who, in small ways, develop organizations or employ personalized skills to alleviate the pain and suffering of those left behind in our society reminds me, that amongst all this evil in our society---putting children in cages, starving children to death, butchering journalists, abusing women...---there are those thousand points of light---individuals whose lifework model what it means to be truly human. I believe these points of light exist within all of us---some come by these traits naturally, most of us, look to our others---teachers, politicians, clerics---to bring these traits out of us---Unfortunately, both in our country and on the international stage, our leadership class---politicians, CEO's---appear to be more comfortable developing and spreading their personal dark sides.
18
Anger and violence are the result of fear. Fear makes cowards of us all.
We have nothing to fear but fear itself; and, the violence and destruction that fear causes.
18
Besides a friendship, Oz and Cohen share the painful fate of being sons of mothers who committed suicide. That both became gifted and nuanced writers, as well as friends, can be no accident.
It was a part of Oz's genius to recognize that "compromises are unhappy; there is no such thing as a happy compromise." Nuance, compassion, compromise: all the things necessary for life to work well, and all the things missing now in Israel, and in America. Thank you, Roger Cohen, for this brilliant, elegiac piece.
47
@Down62
Might it be a sign of the times that a people feel one must be a 'genius' to think that all compromises are to one extent or another 'unhappy'?
Speaking from my own experience (and from observations of those close to me), this attitude is simply the result of maturity.
3
Splendid writing about a splendid writer. Thank you.
21
A beautiful mind. There is a gap in the ether.
12
-Members of my family fled persecution as Jews so I am not untouched by the problem. There is no nation that does not claim itself as exemplary and there is no doubt that many Jews have done wonderful things in this world. and it seems that the Jews, as a nation, have much to answer for as does every other nation. If there is any other intelligence in this universe witnessing humanity , it might be inspired to laugh but as a human local inhabitant I find that difficult.
14
It's an endearing and uniquely American trait to think that there is a solution to every problem, including the Palestinian issue. There isn't. Isaac Singer, the man who said that he had no choice but to believe in free will, would have had enough wisdom and irony to say so. Today's politicians have no wisdom, and a serious irony deficiency.
All that one can hope for is a stasis born of fatigue, a remission for an indefinite time.
13
Settler colonialism is never pretty and it's never justified. Oz was raised in a setting where a terribly traumatized group traumatizes another group. Although hardly moral, it's understandable and at the core of the human predicament. Oz knew (even if he didn't) the nakba was and is the real story here and it haunted every word he wrote, as it haunts Israel and distorts the entire region.
14
@Rickibobbi
I suggest that many readers in many parts of the US and other places won’t know what nakba is. May I add that it is the 1948 forced exodus of the Palestinians from their homes. It was indeed not an empty country the post war Jews went to.
2
@Rickibobbi Yikes. Well, for starters, Oz was a Zionist- he just wanted his fellow Zionists to live up to the promise of Israel's beautiful declaration of independence. " The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations"
5
Amos Oz, like other Israeli writers, shared one thing which is that they were always negotiating among themselves as to what Israel should do and be.
What they rarely did, particularly in recent years, was discuss the merits of negotiations between Israel and whoever presented themselves as the voice of Palestinians because Palestinians do not speak with one voice.
The Fatah dominated PA still has not negotiated an end to its conflict with Hamas since their 2007 war in which Hamas forced the PA out of Gaza. That war was preceded by the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections where Hamas won 44% while Fatah won 41% of the vote. Since then Abbas has not risked elections for fear Hamas would win.
So, until the Palestinians can decide on who truly represents them, proposals as to what Israel should or shouldn't do are just conversation.
Meanwhile, events in and around Israel continue to change dramatically. Iran has provided over a 100,000 missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran is positioning itself on the Syrian border with Israel while ISIS is an increasing threat forming in the Sinai.
Given this continuing existential threat to Israel's existence, which hasn't materially changed since its inception 70 years ago, conversations about withdrawing to 1948 or 1967 borders will not be gaining much traction in Israel.
21
I’ve been in Israel when Rabin was shot and in Berlin when the wall broke down. And there are many other events like 9/11 I did not witness personally. I got a sense of what it means when a society enters uncharted territory.
When this happens facts based, meaningful and human voices are needed amid all the rising emotions. Thanks for introducing me to Mr Oz work!
Interesting and thoughtful opinion piece about Israelian politics, by the way. Not sure wether I fully agree though.
10
Bravo! A fitting tribute to Oz and to Peace Now
33
Cohen: In his masterpiece, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” Oz described walking out early each morning into the desert near his home in Arad. “Now,” he wrote, “you can hear the full depths of the desert silence. It isn’t the quiet before the storm, or the silence of the end of the world, but a silence that only covers another, even deeper, silence.”
That seems to me a depth of calm impossible to experience not to mention articulate today.
19
@Daniel12
Thanks for sharing about the calm in Arad. What I would not give to go back to the calm and quiet of Sde Boker in the Israeli Negev desert as it was in 1978. Alas, I was a restless young man, and had no much use for either calm or quiet then. Today I have to believe it is still out there somewhere. I can certainly see why Oz invoked it in his writing.
6
I think Oz badly underestimated the desire of Israelis -- including Netanyahu --to make a peace and find it significant that no Palestinian writers have yet emerged to challenge their own leaders in the way he did.
20
Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for calling the game as it is, and labeling the agents of nationalist bigotry as they are: cowards, each and every one of them.
59
I've sorely missed the writings of Mr. Cohen; it's good to have him back.
49
Amos Oz was an excellent author. A man with many visions. However, he wasn't a leader who is responsible for the lives of millions every single day. On the other side you don't have a regime of nice cute people. You have terrorist who deliberately aim their attacks at innocent civilian population and violently rule their own citizens. They don't even try to hide the fact that they seek Israel destruction. Maybe if the international community and media will wake up and allow more opinions that condemn Hamas and not Israel, we will be able to achieve progress in the peace process and a two state solution.
22
Are not the Palestinians whose lands are confiscated on the West Bank for Israel settlements also innocents?
10
@Tomer Your statement is a half truth that is repeated ad infinitum by those unwilling to accept the responsibility of their suppressive actions.
Fatah is not Hamas yet those in the West Bank are painted in, exactly as you have just done, with the same brush stroke as Hamas. They live lives of desperation, why should they love you?
A blindman can sense the apartheid imposed upon hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are not guilty of seeking Israeli destruction, only seeking to be treated with respect as human beings. They were pushed from their homes 70 years ago and are denied a homeland of their own for Israeli benefits.
Mr. Cohen and Mr. Oz are voices of compassion and understanding; it is uncommon and refreshing to hear Jews speak the truth to power in Israel, if they were Gentiles they would be accused of anti-semitism by followers of the Netanyahu/Kushner lot.
6
I don’t remember a better summary of contemporary politicians. We feel the smallness daily here, also. Unsurprisingly, it is always masked as toughness. Thank you, Roger.
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Thank you for this wise and touching tribute, Roger.
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@Fania Oz-Salzberger
We are sorry for your loss, and for all our loss.
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Thank you for this. I had not previously understood Mr. Oz or his rationale for being human. Now I do.
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Grateful for this tribute to Amos Oz, a clear-seeing chronicler of Israeli life, a champion of human rights, and a visionary willing to speak truth to power. Thank you.
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Nobody in Israel question the greatness of Amos Oz but many do not share his believes. The number of those have been growing over the years, not because of Benjamin Netanyahu but because of the facts. The difference between Israelis and Palestinians Mr. Cohen, is that majority of Israelis, including those on the right, would give up a lot for real peace but only small minority among Palestinians are ready to do so. Your mistake Mr. Cohen is that you believe, like Mr. Oz did, that by moving back to the 1967 borders peace will prevail between Israelis and Palestinians, that settlements are the obstacle. Yes Mr. Cohen, many Israelis also believe so but only few Palestinians that know, as well as you know that their signature on a peace treaty does not represent the Palestinian majority. What you see on the Israeli-Gaza border is the true wish of most Palestinians, to return home and "home" is not the settlements but Jaffa, Haifa and Zfat. This is the reason why those "moderate" Palestinians leaders in the West Bank refuse election there, they know who the winner will be. Like you Mr. Cohen i will continue to read and admire Amos Oz but to agree with his political ideas? no!!
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@Shlomo -- two children want the whole candy bar. Each will be unhappy to get half. Does the just parent let the bully of the two have it all? Does that parent think this will work out better than dividing it?
The issue is not what the children want today; it is what they will remember forever.
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@Shlomo Greenberg
On what basis do you claim to know what most Palestinians think or feel? Even if the Palestinians elected a Hamas-style government in the West Bank, would they suddenly have the means to threaten Israelis apart from the settlers who shouldn't have come to the West Bank in the first place? Israeli occupation of the West Bank has been a corrupting influence in Israeli politics and society since 1967 and is antithetical to the pursuit of peace.
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There are enough facts that can be marshalled to justify the Israel and the Palestinian positions. Each side is quite expert at ignoring and demonizing the other. In such a case compromise is the only moral way to go. However Bibi and the right only want land not peace. If they were ever interested in peace with the Palestinians why did they destroy Rabin’s plan for peace?
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In my opinion, Amos Oz’s greatest work has not been mentioned in the obituaries and opinion pieces about him that I have read and listened to. It is neither a novel nor a memoir. Rather, it is his interviews with Israeli soldiers after the Six Day War that were only recently available to the public in a documentary, Censored Voices, after decades of suppression by censors. For me, this documentary upended any illusion that I had about Israeli soldiers being able to be more humane during battle than any other soldiers. I had held on to this illusion since growing up during some of my formative years in Israel from 1970-76 - the Six Day War was heralded by many, if not most Israeli Jews during that time as a good and just war that was perfectly fought by the victors. It remained unshaken even when I later learned about Deir Yassin and the forced removal of many Palestinian Arabs from Israeli territory during the Israeli War of Independence, and then heard about Sabra and Shatila - I mistakenly thought that those must be the proverbial exceptions to the rule that somehow prove the rule.
Censored Voices is also important for explaining how a Jerusalem born Sabra, who grew up on a kibbutz and served in the Israeli army could become a founder of Peace Now. It may also explain Amos Oz’s intensity, an intensity expressing the seriousness of every moment and action, that I had heard about but did not fully appreciate until I had an opportunity to chat with him three decades ago.
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@AMR I was a non-Jewish nurse working at Mt. Sinai Hospital after the Six Day War and was startled and appalled at the delight and joy of the Jewish doctors and nurses for having conquered those Arabs so completely.
Having grown up with Jewish friends and aware of the horrors of the Holocaust, I felt that I was watching a bunch of bullies who now had gotten the upper hand and were happy to dish it out as much as they had gotten. That feeling has only gotten stronger under Netanyahu.
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The current NY Times features different writers on different topics with similar thoughts.
"He [Oz] believed that Jews should laugh" - Roger Cohen
"We Need to Keep Laughing" - Timothy Egan article.
Maybe the different topics aren't all that different after all, given that Netanyahu and trump share similar traits one of which, as Cohen (quoting Oz) writes of Netanyahu, is cowardice.
Not that trump is alone in his cowardice. He inspires among his administration; that was painfully evident at the recent Kremlin West cabinet meeting, in which the cabinet members prostrated themselves in turn to express their admiration of the Great Leader.
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@mancuroc -- Trump's buffoonery and too-evident narcissistic delusion are unparalleled. There are no good historical models for him, though an amalgam of Berlusconi and some of the loopier banana-republic dictators would come close.
Comparing Trump to Netanyahu grossly underestimates Bibi in almost every way:
Netanyahu served in the Israeli equivalent to the British SAS or our Green Berets; wounded in combat.
Netanyahu earned a graduate degree from MIT's Sloan School.
Netanyahu joined the Likud party and worked his way up, has been premier twice (first 96 - 99), with a stint as finance minister in between.
One does not need to like Bibi or approve of his policies to see him as formidable, in sharp contrast to our draft-dodging potty-mouthed groper.
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Amos Oz was a great writer - and he was engaged in the political debate. One of the founders of Peace Now, he was a proponent of the 2 state solution, and a compromise with the Palestinian. His vision was not fulfilled, however, because of several reasons. One of them is, I believe, the refusal by the Palestinian leadership to sincerely work towards peace. I mean a real peace. Look at education of young Palestinian kids, look at a policy that financially rewards families of terrorists, look at the attack tunnels etc. It takes two parties to make peace, and unfortunately the current decision makers are right when they say "we don't have a partner". The politically engaged Amos Oz was failed by the Palestinian leadership. The writer will remain close to our heart eternally.
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@Remy Bitoun the hate is on both sides. But it is somehow understandable when it comes from the dispossessed.
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@Remy Bitoun
No, Amos Oz was not only failed by the Palestinians.
The crux of this matter is that Amos Oz was utterly failed by the Israeli Leadership of Bibi Netanyahu, a man who not only cozies up to dictators, including anti-Semites but called for an early election in order to not be indicted for corruption along with his wife Sara.
Maybe you should read the article again. Mr. Cohen clearly and correctly put blame on both sides, plus stressing the point of Bibi's arch-right leaning tendencies.
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@Remy Bitoun
I agree with most of this, but the reason the Palestinian leadership "financially rewards families of terrorists" is because Israel responds to terrorism by demolishing the homes of said families of terrorists, an illegal and highly immoral act. This is reprisal. Look up Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD).
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Thank you for the wonderful homage to Amos Oz, a Mensch.
After hearing of his death, I started to read his book that made him a literary lion, A Tale of Love and Darkness, again.
Reading this book for the third time, makes me cry and laugh again as it did before.
The book's review of the New Yorker said it best: "An ingenious work that circles around the rise of a state, the tragic destiny of a mother, a boy's creation of a new self.
Especially the last two years must have been a mental burden for him, no longer realizing the country he loved and fought for in two wars, one that is being torn apart by both his own prime minster and the man occupying the White House.
The conscience of Israel has passed, and will be greatly missed.
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I think it strange that you think things are permanent.
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@BillBo Sorry, you lost me. Sarah's comment seems to be a shake of her head over the fact that things are changing in bad ways, that things are NOT permanent.
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@BillBo
Annica.....one of the foundations of reality....why is it so hard for us to remember?
I just started to read Oz---you have managed to catch his brilliant literary style---how wonderful he was your friend.
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