You are our destiny: We are your destiny:...There's nothing we can do about it: here in this land we are welded together, Jews and Arabs, forever."

Later, Oz says that "there is no copyright law for national experience, and one cannot sue that Palestinian national movement for plagiarism."

Oz aggressively responds to and challenges his compatriots' assertions. For instance, to his friend Z. Oz quips sarcastically that the power which Israel has exhibited may cause the world to "fear her," rather than "feel sorry" for her. "Congratulations," Oz adds sardonically. To the world at large, he defends the vision of Zionism and the necessity for a Jewish state "of our own." In the same breath, the realist impulse in Oz which led him to admit Israel's immorality permits him to suggest that the Zionist dream has soured, its limits reached. Now the struggle begins anew to find the direction for the Jewish state.

WHY HAVE THE great Zionist hopes of Theodore Herzl and Chaim Weizman been tainted with so much bloodshed? In utilitarian terms, has the end justified the means? Here, Oz lets another bombshell drop. This time, it is calculated to offend, for he dabbles in the realm of the irrational--religion. Israelis are different from Jews in the rest of the world, he argues. The Diaspora is the "museum civilization." If any spiritual existence remains at all, he says, it has degenerated into the interpretation of the meaning of the interpretations, "until finally all that is left is to polish the artifacts in their cases." Not so for Israelis who have the legacy of Zionism. Now that too is becoming a "museum piece." The kibbutzim--the fertile land where desert once was--and the passionate spirit which has characterized the Israeli existence are all creatures of "this new, nonreligious Judaism." Over time, Zionism has lost its creative spirit. It is time for a new experiment and new creations. The only way to assure perpetual creativity is continual debate grounded in the well-worn concept of pluralism.

In person, Amos Oz will tell you that he has no ambitions to be a "political guerrilla." He has always operated on the margins, keeping the government on its toes. "I couldn't think of myself as a politician sitting at endless sessions," Oz says in his soft-spoken manner. As a self-proclaimed idealist, he has rarely if ever had to face the realities of political responsibility.

Nevertheless, Oz's Peace Now movement and his book show a shrewd political sense. Oz has maneuvered into an untouchable position by constructing a platform whose legitimacy rests in the opportunity for constant criticism: he even encourages constructive potshots at his pluralist theory. Nevertheless, those of us with a skeptical bent might scoff at an idealistic vision. Oz says, "I would like very much to live in world where there are one hundred different civilizations with any cultural and religious traditions and not a single nation-state." No one can deny Oz the opportunity to hope for such a time and place, and such dreams have helped to shape the world. However, the power of such idealism is lost without a firm grounding in reality. The journalist/sociologist must remember this or his pluralistic and peaceful vision will remain a fantasy, a land of Oz, rather than setting the stage for a new and improved land of Israel.