On My Parents Scale Of Values, The

In Some Of The Israeli Media, But Not All, They Read About Very Nasty Things Done By Israeli Settlers And Soldiers To Palestinian Arabs. This Is A Pain In The Neck For Many Israelis. They Say: Leave Us Alone, What Can We Do About It? Or They Say: Look At Syria, Look At Iraq, The West Bank Is Paradise By Comparison. I Was One Of The First To Say, Shortly After The Six-day War, That Occupation Is Corrupting. It Corrupts The Occupier And, In A Different Way, It Corrupts The Occupied.

Each Time I Have The Urge In Me To Make A Statement Or Send A Message Or To Issue A Manifesto, I Don't Bother To Write A Novel. I Write An Article And Publish It In A Popular Newspaper, Or I Make A Television Appearance. I Would Not Waste Five Years Of My Life In Order To Send To The Israeli Readers A Simple Message Such As, "let Us Change A Policy Or Stop The Settlements," Or, "let Us Strive For Peace." This Is Not What It Is About.

Of Course, We Carry Inside Of Ourselves Our Parents. Even When They Are Dead, We Carry Them Inside Ourselves. And They Are Carrying Inside Themselves Their Dead Parents And So On And So Forth. There Is A Legacy Of Language And Culture And Religion.

Many Intellectuals In America And In Europe, They Are In The Habit Of Taking Sides: Who Are The Bad Guys? Who Are The Good Guys? They Launch A Demonstration Against The Bad Guys, Sign A Petition In Favor Of The Good Guys, And Going To Sleep Feeling Well About Themselves.

If You Steal From One Book You Are Condemned As A Plagiarist, But If You Steal From Ten Books You Are Considered A Scholar, And If You Steal From Thirty Or Forty Books, A Distinguished Scholar.