2011-26 - Help us to Divorce, by Amos Oz

26 - Help us to Divorce, by Amos Oz, 81 pages, Random House, 2004
WHY I PICKED IT: Nick Hornby recommended it in one of his essays on books.
ELAPSED TIME: 4 days.
RATING: Good.

This book of two essays was quite interesting.  The first, Between Right and Right, was very good.  He acknowledges that the path to peace is not sitting down to coffee together and becoming friends; that negotiated peace is more than just holding hands and singing Kumbaya.  He believes that the divorce will be hard and will require loss from both sides, but ultimately worth it.

In this essay, Oz made a clear argument for a path to a two state solution between Israel and Palestine.  It acknowledged wrongs on both sides, and that no solution will be complete until the refugees still living in camps are addressed.  I am not an advocate for borders, so a two state solution is not one I agree with... but if that is the quickest path to peace, I understand his perspective.

There are two flaws in this essay:

a) Oz draws a parallel in the lack of willingness to negotiate by the Palestinians in 1947 to the lack of willingness to negotiate by the Israelis in 1967... In 1947, the Palestinians were having another state thrust upon them; a colonial invasion.  In 1967 the Israelis were unwilling to negotiate because of the war they just won... These are very different starting positions so the parallel is somewhat flawed.  He is only correct insofar as they are both missed opportunities for peace.

b) He does not mention the ongoing Israeli expansion into the West Bank, and how that must be pulled back before any lasting peace can be negotiated.

His second essay, How to Cure a Fanatic, was less engaging.  His treatise on what is a fanatic was vague,  directionless, and not worthy of more commentary (and so I shall stop here...