I write about reconciliation, but not as a miracle, as a slow, gradual process of mutual discovery - discovering one another.

Israel has obviously not liberated the Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank. We have occupied them, but we have not liberated them.

Literature is about telling stories. Now, the gift of literature is that, in some lucky cases, reading a novel or a story makes the reader more curious, more open-minded. It may open a third eye in the middle of the reader's forehead.

Actually, who hasn't been through the ghastly experience of sitting in front of a blank page, with its toothless mouth grinning at you: Go ahead, let's see you lay a finger on me? A blank page is actually a whitewashed wall with no door and no window. Beginning to tell a story is like making a pass at a total stranger in a restaurant.

"The State of the Jews" was not a title of a country. It was a title of a futuristic novel.

Never cut loose from your longings.

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.