I don’t often write about the Zionist perspective of the conflict, because there are so many other places where readers can get that. But certainly, having grown up as a Zionist and having moved to Israel because of Zionism’s influence on me, I have a deep understanding of why the Jews see Israel as our homeland, and our consequent blindness to the Palestinians’ plight.
Amos Oz’ book, In the Land of Israel was the first book I read in Hebrew. I read it the year it came out, 1984, the first year we moved to Israel. It was also, amazingly enough, the first time I read a Jewish writer’s critical perspective on the Zionist enterprise and its destructive impact on the lives of Palestinians. It deeply influenced my future political thinking.
For this reason I cite this New Yorker article about Oz’s new memoir. As the article notes, “…[t]he renaissance of Hebrew is the most unqualified success of cultural Zionism.” Indeed, as one of the great modern Hebrew writers, Amoz Oz played a crucial role in that renaissance. He has always used his prominent cultural platform to be a conscientious objector to the more brutal acts of Israeli militarism. For that he deserves great respect, even if I don’t always agree with his political perspective (particularly his blaiming Arafat for the collapse of the Oslo process).