MIDDLE EAST: David Grossman, one of Israel's most admired authors and a leading figure on the Israeli left, appeared in public for the first time since the death of his son in the Lebanon war to deliver an impassioned speech criticising the government for "hollow" leadership and for failing to negotiate with the Palestinians.
Mr Grossman addressed a 100,000-strong crowd who gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to mark the 11th anniversary of the assassination of the prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. In August, the author and other writers spoke out against the Lebanon war, two days before his son, Uri (20), a staff sergeant in the Israeli army, was killed in battle.
Mr Grossman told the crowd: "The deaths of young people are a terrible, screaming waste, but no less terrible is the feeling that, for many years, the state of Israel is wasting not only the lives of her sons, but also the miracle [ of the creation of the state], the opportunity to create an enlightened and democratic nation here." The crisis facing Israel was "much deeper than we feared, in almost every respect," he added. "There is a feeling that there is no king in Israel. The military political leadership is hollow." Mr Grossman said the government had been quick to go to war in Lebanon this year, but slow to respond to any opportunities for talks with its opponents or to find a solution to the Palestinian conflict.
"Any logical person in Israel or Palestine knows today the lines of a possible settlement of the conflict between the two people," he said. "Talk to the Palestinian people, talk to the sorrow and the deep wounds they have. Acknowledge their ongoing suffering. Doing so will in no way diminish your or Israel's position."