I don't think a decent person has to choose between being pro-Israel and pro-Palestine. I think you have to be pro-Peace.

I know that a translation of a work of literature is like playing a violin concerto on the piano. You can do this. You can do this very successfully on one strict condition: never try to force the piano to produce the sounds of the violin. This will be grotesque.

The whole Zionist project was based on a whole spectrum of different and even conflicting dreams and visions.

I write in words. And my words are Hebrew words.

This bloody conflict has been going on for much too long. It is doing terrible things to Israelis, to Palestinians. One of the terrible things it is causing is indifference.

That's my gutsy advice to any young writer: write only about what you know well.

Democracy in many parts of the world is undergoing a very deep crisis. Politics is becoming a branch of the entertainment industry. People vote not for the best leader, but for the funniest candidate.