Den store israeliske författaren Amos Oz har just lämnat oss.
Eftersom Amos Oz i Sverige till stor del uppmärksammas för sina politiska ställningstaganden, vill vi gärna påminna om att han visserligen var engagerad för fredsrörelsen, men knappast naiv på det sätt omvärlden ofta är inför den israelisk-palestinska konflikten.
Han insåg t.ex. att Israel var tvunget att försvara sig militärt genom kriget mot Hizbollah i södra Libanon 2006, och offensiven mot Hamas i Gazaremsan 2009.
Och under Gazakriget 2014 gav Amos Oz en intervju för Deutsche Welle, som han valde att inleda så här:
“Amos Oz:
I would like to begin the interview in a very unusual way: by presenting one or two questions to your readers and listeners. May I do that?
Deutsche Welle:
Go ahead!
Amos Oz:
Question 1: What would you do if your neighbour across the street sits down on the balcony, puts his little boy on his lap and starts shooting machine gun fire into your nursery?
Question 2: What would you do if your neighbour across the street digs a tunnel from his nursery to your nursery in order to blow up your home or in order to kidnap your family?
With these two questions I pass the interview to you.”
– Intervju för Deutsche Welle, 30 juli 2014
– – –
Två andra citat:
”There is a great Arabic proverb that says one needs two hands to clap. Assuming that peace is entirely up to Israel is, in my opinion, something arrogant.”
Amos Oz
– Israels Arméradio, återgivet i Times of Israel samma dag, 1 februari 2015
”It is crystal clear to me that if Arabs put down a draft resolution blaming Israel for the recent earthquake in Iran it would probably have a majority, the US would veto it and Britain and France would abstain.”
Amos Oz
– The Times, 24 oktober 1990
– – –
Men, som sagt, Amos Oz var en stor författare och ville hellre uppmärksammas för sitt skrivande. Han mottog ett drygt trettiotal priser och utmärkelser, och var länge en av kandidaterna till Nobels litteraturpris. Vi avrundar med hans tankar om Nobelpriset:
“I’m fine, I’ve received plenty of awards,” he says. “If I leave this world without the Nobel, I’ll feel just fine. I’ll let you in on a secret: Literary awards are a strange thing. I write books the way I drink water or breathe air. I can’t not breathe, I can’t not drink, I can’t not write. Then afterwards people come and say, ‘You breathe so beautifully,’ ‘You drink water so beautifully, let’s give you an award for it.’ I’d write the same books even if I had to pay a fine after each book – and there are people who would like see that happen, I know.”
Haaretz 21 oktober 2018.
Vänskapsförbundet Sverige-Israel Friendship association
