How To Cure A Fanatic

Amos Oz is the author of many novels an essay collections. As one of the leading figures in the Israeli Peace Now movement since 1977, his articles, essays, and political activities have made him an important figure in Israel, and his writing have appeared in translation throughout the world.

Amos Oz, “How To Cure A Fanatic”, Princeton Univ Press, 2002, Pages 95
How to Cure a Fanatic is more booklet than book (only 95 pages). The book consists of edited versions of two lectures Oz originally gave in Germany in 2002, and an attempt to update it was made through an interview conducted in September 2005. Of course this part does not work because of the ever changing situation on the ground.
The first piece is Between Right and Right, and in it Oz argues that it is futile trying to frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one between good and bad guys. Both sides, he believes, have valid claims to the disputed land, and both sides have been victims -- and both have acted unwisely. He believes the entire dispute is really one of real estate. There can be no satisfactory winner-take-all scenario. The solution, as he sees it, is to treat it like a divorce -- "because the two divorcing parents are definitely staying in the same apartment" and have to work out who gets what rooms, etc.

Pg. 8: What we need is a painful compromise. The word "compromise" has a terrible reputation in Europe. Especially among young idealists who always regard compromise as opportunism,as something dishonest, as something sneaky and shady, as a mark of a lack of integrity. Not in my vocabulary. For me the word "compromise" means life. And the opposite of compromise is not idealism, not devolution; the opposite of compromise is fanaticism and death. We need to compromise. Compromise, not capitulation.

Pg. 57: The essence of fanaticism lies in the desire to force other people to change. The common inclination to improve your neighbor, mend your spouse, engineer your child, or straighten up your brother, rather than let them be. The fanatic is a most unselfish creature. Often the fanatic is more interested in you than in himself. He wants to save your soul he wants to redeem you, he wants to liberate you from sin, from error, from smoking, from your faith or from your faithlessness, he wants to improve your eating habits, or to cure you of your drinking or voting habits. Also, fanatics have no sense of humor.

Pg. 87: Fanatics never tire, and fanaticism is on the rise not only in the Middle East but all over the world. Thee is a rise of Islamic fanaticism, there is a rise of Jewish fanaticism, and indeed there is a rise of Christian fanaticism, or fundamentalism. To me there is no difference between people who blow up abortion clinics in America and people who blow up the World Trade Center towers, except in the scale of their actions. The principle is the same.

The second piece, How to Cure a Fanatic, is a more far-ranging one, tackling the problem of modern fanaticism. In fact, he doesn't offer much of a cure (and even begins by admitting that maybe containing it is the best one can do).
Oz writes that: "The essence of fanaticism lies in the desire to force other people to change." He understands that fanatics, in a sense, mean well: when Bin Laden attacked the US in September 2001: "He did it for your own good, he wants to change you, he wants to redeem you." Indeed, Oz warns of the seeds of fanaticism in all of us, the small and larger things where we're certain we know better and best.
The September 2005 interview more directly addresses the situation on the ground in Israel. However, it already reads completely out of date.

A nice little book that can be read in two hours and leave you with some understanding of the fanatics all around us.