I'm A Great Believer In Compromises. I

The Only Way To Keep A Dream, Any Dream At All, To Keep A Dream Perfect And Rosy And Intact And Unsullied Is Never To Live It Out. The Moment You Carry Out Any Of Your Dreams Or Your Fantasies - Travel Around The World, Climbing A High Mountain, Buying A New House, Writing A Novel, Carrying Out A Sexual Fantasy, Traveling To An Unknown Country - The Moment You Carry Out Your Dreams, It's Always, By Definition Less Perfect And Rosy Than It Had Been As A Dream. This Is The Nature Of Dreams.

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.

I Don't Believe In Binational States. There Are Wonderful Examples Of This, Prosperous Multinational States: Switzerland, Switzerland And Switzerland. Everywhere Else - Be It Cyprus, Yugoslavia Or The Soviet Union, It Ended In A Terrible Bloodbath.

I'm Not Sure I'm Happy With Words Such As "task" Or "role" When They Are Attached To Literature. I Prefer To Talk About The Gift Of Literature Rather Than Its Role Or Task. You Know, Gynecology Has A Role; Sex Is A Gift. And Literature Is Not About Sending Messages.

What Is Likely To Happen? Either An Escalation Of Violence Or An Entire Change In The Whole Middle East Theater. It May Well Happen, And I Say This To My Palestinian Friends, That The Palestinians Have In A Certain Way Missed Their Hour. They Had Their Moment When The World's Public Opinion Was Behind Them, And A Considerable Part Of The Israeli Public Was Willing To Compromise With Them.