Amos Oz is a good novelist. Perhaps he should stick to fiction?
"But Hamas is not just a terrorist organization. Hamas is an idea, a desperate and fanatical idea that grew out of the desolation and frustration of many Palestinians. No idea has ever been defeated by force — not by siege, not by bombardment, not by being flattened with tank treads and not by marine commandos. To defeat an idea, you have to offer a better idea, a more attractive and acceptable one." (Amos Oz)
So how about offering Hamas an attractive idea like liberal democracy? Surely, that would be the answer to the West's problems? We could also offer it to Al Qaeda and Madmaniniran.
And just for the historical record, Nazism was an idea that was defeated by bombardment and tanks. So perhaps somebody should phone Oz with the news.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/opinion/02oz.html
http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/2010/06/does-anyone-choose-nicest-ide...
