Amos Oz: The Conscience of Israel

James Nutt, 2005

Alan Yentob profiles the writer Amos Oz, in the wake of the publication of his childhood memoir, A Tale of Love and Darkness taking Oz back to the settings of his childhood in Israel. Oz, a passionate advocate of the two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, grew up during the formation of Israel and his lyrical memoir describes family trauma against the backdrop of the country’s difficult early years, and the story of its founders.

Amos Oz speaks movingly of his parents' difficulties in adjusting to Israel after a lifetime in Europe, his mother's depression and suicide, and his own bereaved rage that lasted well into adulthood. He also talks about the Israel-Palestine conflict . "A place cannot be holy," he said, commenting on the land-grabs of recent times. "Human life alone can be sacred."