Im Lande Israel

To describe the society of a country, one can, broadly speaking, use two methods: One can analyze its different areas and their interrelationships with the aim of being representative; or one can, by examining a segment of a society's reality, clarify a specific dimension in its various forms. Amos Oz, the renowned Israeli author, explores the perceptions, hopes, fears, and prejudices of some Israelis towards the end of 1982. He spoke with settlers in the West Bank, a farmer who had immigrated before the British Mandate, a professor of philosophy at the University of Jerusalem, the editor-in-chief of a Palestinian newspaper published in Jerusalem, and others. These conversations reveal differing attitudes towards pressing problems in Israel: settlement policy, Jewish-Arab relations, the relationship between Eastern and European Jews, Orthodox and non-Orthodox opinions on the Jews as the "chosen people," and the relationships between Zionists, non-Zionists, and anti-Zionists.