Nathan Englander Quotes
Palestine isn't a state when it concerns statehood. When it comes to warring, it's a state, yes? The Palestinians, they live in a country, for the purpose of war.
Englander, Nathan. Dinner at the Center of the Earth. Alfred A. Knopf, 2017.
This was an interview with Reuters News Agency in English. Arab leaders often make English Statements to the Western Press which are completely contradictory to what they say to their Arab constituents and followers. In this case he seems to acknowledge that Hamas and he do not deny the right of Israel to exist and accepts that nation per se. Yet at the same time Meshaal has never made this statement in Arabic and has made no gesture to change the Hamas Charter which calls for the destruction and elimination of Israel or to criticize the Hamas other leaders and followers who constantly call for “Death to Israel” and the destruction of the Jewish state. See {585395} for an eloquent statement of the practice of Arab leaders and politicians.
”Palestine” to the Arabs of the area meant the territory of the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel itself. They wanted to expel the Jews and or take over the whole area as a single state—Palestine—with an Arab majority. With the Israeli Defense Forces successes under Dayan, this notion of Palestine was “finished”. The notion of a Palestinian State which included the West Bank and Gaza but not Israel was then negotiated and these negotiations were ongoing for years. Minorities of Arabs and Israelis did not want to see a any Palestinian state that did not include Israel proper, and they blocked it whenever they could.
“Oslo” was a peace conference where the Israelis agreed to give the Palestinians more control over West Bank land in exchange for Palestinian renouncing of terrorism and violence. The Palestinian government was either too weak to expel or arrest the terrorists or unwilling to do so. In either case, Israel had a much harder time coping with terrorism which took Israeli lives and sense of security. A similar thing happened when the Israelis withdrew from the West Bank. Many Israelis thereafter did not want to consider allowing the Palestinians to control any more land, making a two state solution virtually untenable.
Nathan Englander (born 1970) is an American short story writer and novelist. His debut short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, was published by Alfred A. Knopf, in 1999. His second collection, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, won the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
