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Political, Not Partisan:
Oz On Art, Activism

ANDREW SILOW CARROLL

ew York — Amos Oz
is taking pains these
days to make distinc-
tions between his art and his
politics. But as both - Israel's
best-known novelist and
leader of its peace movement,
the dinstinctions seem to
grow more and more elusive.
Recently, for example, after
a reading at a Manhattan
bookstore from "Black Box,"
his new novel, he found
himself in debate with a
young Israeli woman.
"Last week you told the
New York Times your book
didn't express your political
opinion. Why can't you be a
novelist and be political at
the same time?" she
demanded.
The novelist smiled gently,
his blue eyes disappearing in

N

Amos Oz: No need for allegory.

a squint. "I do both. Separate-
ly," he said. "But when I
prefer to tell my government
to get the hell out of the ter-
ritories, I _can write an essay
or make a speech."
"Because you're afraid to
take a stand in your books?"
asked the woman.
"Not at all. That's the
point," said Oz. "If I were in
a society where I could not
write freely then I would have
to write political allegories.
But since I don't need to in
Israel, I don't."
The next morning, over a
light breakfast at his hotel,
Oz continued to ponder where
his political life leaves off and
his literary life begins. He
was at the end of a week-long
visit to the United States,
which he spent promoting the
new novel and garnering a
fistful of favorable reviews.
The next day he was flying
back to Israel.
Although Oz has been on
leave from Kibbutz Hulda,

where he lived since the age
of 14, he still greets his public
and interviewers dressed like
a kibbutznik: a light-blue
shirt open at the collar, a sen-
sible leather jacket.
"It's assumed that Israeli
peaceniks are some sort of
younger brother of the
American peace movement of
the Vietnam years," said Oz.
"But Peace Now is not a
`make love, not war' move-
ment. Really, what we are
saying is 'make peace, not
love! "
He and other writers — in-
cluding A.B. Yehoshua and
Yehlula Amichai — are not
the only Israelis saying this,
he said, but as writers they
have a particular insight. "I
think we're more exposed to
the concept that the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict is more
like a Greek tragedy — right
vs. right — than like a Wild
West film with good guys and
bad guys.
"There is a misconception
that once you support the
Palestinian's right to self-
determination, it's like say-
ing, "There are the good guys
in the story: Possibly, that
misconception, too, comes
from Vietnam. But I clearly
do not maintain that Israel is
the bad guy in the conflict
with the Palestinians. If
recognizing their right of self-
determination was some sort
of reward for good behavior,
then they don't deserve it?'
His assessment of the
Palestinians's nationalist
movement, in fact, is hardly
flattering. Their leaders, he
said, are "cruel, fanatic,
historically stupid and have
injured their own people —
perhaps more than the
Israelis?'
Nevertheless, he said, "By
calling them 'knaves, they
won't disappear?'
Had he found Palestinian
artists or leaders ready to
share his talk of peace?
"That's tricky," he said. In
the 1970s, Israeli peace ac-
tivists made contact with
Palestinian leaders in London
or Paris, where "over a cozy
dish or a cup of coffee" they
talked of compromise and
reconciliation.
But the very next week, ad-
dressing their own people in
Arabic, the Arab "moderates"
repeated "the most savage
PLO lies about the need to ex-
terminate Israel.
"Sadly, what they say in
Arabic weighs a million times
more than what they might
have whispered in private, in
English, into my peace-loving
ear," said Oz.

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