OH, GAZA. Strong as death is love. I loved Gaza. That is a play on words. The Biblical Song of Songs says that love is strong as death. Strong in Hebrew is Aza. Aza is also the Hebrew name of Gaza. I have spent many happy hours in Gaza. I had many friends there. From … Read more
WE ALL know the picture from the books and the movies: a gambler sits at the roulette table in a casino. He has luck. A lot of luck. In front of the gambler the pile of chips is growing. Higher and higher. Every spin of the roulette wheel adds to the heap. When the heap … Read more
ON BLOODY MONDAY this week, when the number of Palestinian killed and wounded was rising by the hour, I asked myself: what would I have done if I had been a youngster of 15 in the Gaza Strip? My answer was, without hesitation: I would have stood near the border fence and demonstrated, risking my … Read more
“IF YOU want to understand the policy of a nation, look at the map!” Napoleon is supposed to have said. It is good advice. If you are living in Israel, these days, you get the impression that the huge State of Israel is dictating to its American vassal what to do about Iran. President Donald … Read more
Ben-Gurion said about her: “The only thing Golda knows how to do is to hate!” Golda Meir did not hate me. That would be an understatement. She detested me. The way I speak, the way I dress, the way I look. Everything. Once, in the middle of a speech in the Knesset (I believe it … Read more
ON THE fifth day of the six-day war in 1967, I published an open letter to the Prime Minister, Levy Eshkol. The Israeli army had just conquered the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, and I proposed that Eshkol immediately offer the Palestinian people to establish the State of Palestine there, in return … Read more
TWO DAYS ago, the State of Israel celebrated its 70th birthday. For days we heard about nothing else. Innumerable speeches full of platitudes. A huge festival of kitsch. Everyone agreed: It was a historic moment, when David Ben-Gurion got up in a small hall in Tel Aviv and declared the foundation of the state. Everybody … Read more
WRITE DOWN: I, Uri Avnery, soldier number 44410 of the Israel army, hereby dissociate myself from the army sharpshooters who murder unarmed demonstrators along the Gaza Strip, and from their commanders, who give them the orders, up to the commander in chief. We don’t belong to the same army, or to the same state. We … Read more
A FRIEND from overseas sent me the recording of a song. An Arab song, with a soft Arab melody, sung by an Arab girls’ choir, accompanied by a flute. It goes like this: Ahed /You are the promise and the glory /Standing as high as an olive tree /From the cradle to the present /Your … Read more
I was about to write an article about Pesach eve’ when I remembered that I wrote exactly the same article six years ago. So I am sending the old article again – I just have nothing to add. I AM writing this on Friday night, the eve of Passover. At this moment, all over the … Read more