Israeli writer shares thoughts

The seeds of international fanaticism lie in "uncompromising righteousness," said Israeli writer Amos Oz as he began a lecture Monday.\n"The people who blow up abortion clinics in this country are no different than those who destroyed the World Trade Center; it is just a different scale of destruction," he said.\nThe William T. Patten Foundation welcomed Oz to campus as part of its annual lecture series. Oz advocated a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a speech, "Israel: Peace and War," which was delivered to a packed Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union.\nOz is in the United States to promote his latest novel, "The Same Sea."\nAssociate professor of English Mary Favret, Patten Foundation Committee chair, explained why Oz was chosen to speak.\n"Amos Oz is a world-class writer, and the eminent living writer in Israel," she said. "He is of the stature we like to have for Patten Lectures."\nAlvin Rosenfeld, director of the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program, introduced Oz.\n"Mr. Oz comes to us at a difficult time," he said. "His position is a reasoned one, but it is not always easy to keep in the present time."\nHe continued by telling the audience how to respond to fanatics, and warned that the ideology is contagious.\n"The cure to fanaticism is developing a sense of humor and learning to enjoy diversity," he said. "Don't catch fanaticism while trying to combat it. God save America from becoming an anti-fanatic fanatic country."\nAn active member of the Peace Now movement in Israel, Oz used his analysis of fanaticism as a starting point in his discussion of the country's peace process.\n "The clash between Israeli Jew and Palestinian Arab is like an ancient Greek tragedy," he said. "It is not right versus wrong, but right versus right."\n He said the conflict is not a war between religious groups or social classes, but an "international dispute," citing that Israelis and Palestinians have never been part of the same society. Oz asserted that by adopting this view of the situation, the problem will be easier to solve. He said the best solution is a compromise between the two parties.\n"The best that Israelis and Palestinians can hope for is a compromise, not a honeymoon," he said. "In my vocabulary, compromise means life itself, and the opposite of compromise is fanaticism and death."\nOz voiced support for the creation of a separate state for the Palestinians, and said he hopes Israelis and Palestinians can separate peacefully, as the Czechs and Slovaks did.\nHe continued by expressing that a compromise will occur sooner or later, but said leaders on both sides are holding up the process.\n"The Israeli and Palestinian leaderships are lagging way behind their populations," he said. "Public opinion surveys say that more than half of Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs are willing to accept two states, but no Israeli or Palestinian leader has the courage to make two states."\nOz concluded his talk by reinforcing the need for a peaceful two-state partition.\n"My colleagues and I have been working for more than 30 years to promote a Chekhov solution, not a Shakespeare solution," he said. "It will hurt and it will cripple, but the alternative is much worse."\nHis speech was followed by a question and answer session moderated by Rosenfeld. In response to an audience member's inquiry, Oz recognized the necessity of removing Palestinian refugees from displaced persons camps in the region.\n"As long as there are Palestinians rotting in those camps, Israel will not know security," he said.\nMary Tilton, executive director of the Patten Foundation, praised Oz.\n"He is a wonderful man," she said. "In interacting with faculty and students, he has gone beyond what we asked"