One of the most famous Israeli writers, Etgar Keret, in an interview with La Repubblica reporter Francesca Caferri, tells how he sees the peace plan for Gaza and why he is skeptical.
From the yellow sofa in Etgar Keret’s house, with the company of his white bunny, we have seen how things have unfolded in the enclave for the past two years. The massacre of October 7 was followed by disloyalty and chaos. In Gaza, anger, pain and the desire for revenge are visible. There are mobilizations in the squares and hopes. There is also division. Violence is increasing in Gaza. What else do we need to say?, laughs the Israeli writer, as he sits across from us in his blue chair. I think we have said everything. We have even become boring….
We didn’t say how it ends…
Because it never ends here. How many times have we thought we were at the end of the road? It has always been an illusion.
This time it looks different…?
We’ll see. I’m just saying don’t create illusions, because we’ve come close many times, but nothing happened. And because this is an ambitious plan: not just a ceasefire, but a path that could lead to a Palestinian state. Netanyahu doesn’t want this: he’s a reluctant negotiator who constantly changes the rules.
Let’s say it ends tonight, what would the place be like tomorrow morning?
This is a difficult question. I think about it often, and I don’t have easy answers. At first, it would be a relief: 80 percent of Israelis don’t want this war, but so do 99 percent of people in Gaza, and 100 percent of the world. But if it were to end, the future would be uncertain: a recent study shows that 30 percent of Israelis have symptoms of post-traumatic stress. That means there’s a person with PTSD in every family. There are two years of anger and frustration to deal with: people who have divorced, people who have done terrible things and carry them with them, people who have felt betrayed and abandoned…
It’s not Sparta at all what the Prime Minister is looking for…?
In Sparta, children who were not considered fit for war were killed. A terrible idea, especially when proposed by Jews…
Then?
Then, it becomes more difficult to answer. We are on a bus in a burning forest. The driver is Netanyahu, who tells us he will get us out of the fire. But he throws gasoline out the window and the fire spreads.
Are there Palestinians on the bus too?
Decide for yourself. I say that before October 7, even secretly, there was a narrative that said that a solution with the Palestinians would have to be found, even if it was far in the future, because neither we nor they were ready. Now we don’t have this reality. There is a messianic idea that has brought us close to annexing Gaza and the West Bank. I am still convinced of the need for an agreement and recognition of a role for the Palestinian National Authority. But most people are still living in the drama of October 7 and saying ‘no’ to every possibility, for fear that it will bring new pain to us. The only reason I find is that you can’t think of a solution when you are in the middle of a crisis.
Without metaphors, where do you see Israel in a year?
I see two camps. A camp like Sparta, with its clear ideas. And a confused and unclear camp, which knows that it must find alternative solutions, which in some way accepts the path to a Palestinian state, but which is now divided and does not think much about the future.
And Netanyahu?
He will look for a new enemy. For years he told the country that he was protecting them from Hamas… then he allowed 1200 people to be killed. Now he says he has destroyed Hamas, so he needs another enemy. I think he has found it in anti-Semitism: our prime minister constantly tries to confuse the idea of being Jewish with what this Israeli government does. As if criticizing the government necessarily means being anti-Semitic. Abroad you hear calls for increasing anti-Semitism, at home they say “if you are Jewish, you cannot join those who criticize the IDF, because they are anti-Semitic. You have to take a stand: are you with the anti-Semites or with your country?”
But there are people like you, David Grossman, activists from Peace Now and B’Tselem, who continue to speak out and criticize…
Yes, but it’s not easy. Not at all.
You still stay in Israel, could you leave…?
I can, but I won’t. The madness is not only in Israel: here it is perhaps more extreme, but the rest of the world is not doing well either. We are all slipping: we are two floors below the others. As for me, until I can speak, I will stay. Then I don’t know: but I am worried. It is not easy at all. I try to do my part: I often joke with Shira, my wife (Geffen, a very well-known actress and director in Israel), saying that before I was a writer, now I am a rabbi.
People are lost and many write to me for advice on life, relationships, what to do. I try to answer them, I am in constant dialogue with the world out there: I hope it makes sense. And I am working on a new book, with my times, it will not be ready before 2031: what will Israel be like then? Will I be allowed to publish books? Will anyone read them? I have many questions, but few answers.
