Uri Avnery's Column


Agatha In The Rain
"ISRAEL HAS declared war on the Palestinian people! The Palestinian people will answer in kind! The Palestinian rebellion will go on! The Palestinian fighters are steadfast in the service of the... • More...

Mon Dieu, Mondial! (Balls instead of Bullets)
IF PRESIDENT Bush wanted to deal with Iran by "bombing them back into the stone age", (as an American general once put it during the Vietnam War), now would be the time. With everybody riveted to... • More...

Crying Stones (A Lesson in Ethnic Cleansing)
"I COLLECTED with my bare hands the body parts of my two little sons. What mother must do that? One shell of the aggressors blew them apart. Within a second, my life was destroyed forever." The... • More...

Oh, What A Wonderful Plan!
NINE MONTHS before he invaded Lebanon, Ariel Sharon let me in on his grand design for solving all the problems of this region. It was mind-boggling. He did not ask me to keep it secret, just not... • More...

Missed Opportunities (Partial List)
"THE PALESTINIANS never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity!" - this phrase, coined by Abba Eban, has become a by-word. It also illustrates a wise Talmudic saying: "He who finds fault in... • More...

WHO'S GUILTY? THE VICTIM, OF COURSE
THOSE WHO listened to the radio news last Saturday heard a stunning report: that Muhammad Abu-Ter and Uri Avnery had barricaded themselves together in a private home in a-Ram.

The very fact that... • More...

Voices from Prison
PRISON SERVES an important function in the annals of every revolutionary movement. It serves as a college for activists, center for the crystallization of ideas, rallying point for leaders... • More...

300 Kisses
SHALL WE start with the good news or the bad news? As confirmed optimists, let's start with the good news.

To paraphrase an old Hebrew saying: Don't look at the vessel but at what's not in it... • More...

The Trap
WHEN YOU see a person walking into a trap, you shout: "Look out!" But when you see a person walking into a trap knowingly, with open eyes, what are you supposed to do?

AMIR PERETZ is about to... • More...

Who's the dog? Who's the tail?
I DON'T usually tell these stories, because they might give rise to the suspicion that I am paranoid.

For example: 27 years ago, I was invited to give a lecture-tour in 30 American universities... • More...

"The Trees Went Forth…"
TODAY, EHUD Olmert has become the Prime minister of Israel. No longer just a "Deputy Prime Minister", but now a real one. One hundred days after Ariel Sharon sank into a coma, the job and the... • More...

The Big Wink
"Advance and be recognized!" the recruit on sentry duty calls out when he hears somebody approaching. "Sergeant Johns!" comes the answer.

"Advance and be recognized!" the sentry calls again. "I... • More...

What the Hell has happened?
THE MOST dramatic and the most boring election campaign in our history has mercifully come to an end. Israel looks in the mirror and asks itself: What the hell has happened? • More...

Whom To Vote For?
I BELIEVE this must be about the 15th time that I am writing an article like this one. On the eve of every national election I set out my doubts and hesitations. I do not tell people how to vote... • More...

A Disgusting Exercise
THE CENTRAL theme of this article is disgust. Therefore I apologize in advance for the frequent use of this and similar words.

In the thesaurus I find quite a number of synonyms: loathing... • More...

A Four-Letter Word
IN ENGLISH, a "four-letter word" is a rude expletive. It is a vulgar description of a sexual act or organ, and an educated person will not use it.

Now it appears that in the Hebrew language, too... • More...

And the Great Game Goes On
IF YOU want to understand the policy of a country, look at the map!" advised Napoleon. What he meant was: Regimes come and go, rulers rise and fall, ideologies flourish and wither, but geography... • More...

An Extraordinary Conference
A FINAL score of 1:1 may not be the most impressive, but for the youngsters of Bil'in it was a glorious achievement. For them, it was not the result that was important, nor even the match itself... • More...

A War of Religions? God Forbid!
ONE OF our former Chiefs-of-Staff, the late Rafael ("Raful") Eytan, who was not the brightest, once asked a foreign guest: "Are you Jewish or Christian?"

"I am an atheist!" the man replied... • More...

The Secret of Kadima
ONLY AN earthquake can still prevent an overwhelming victory for Kadima in the coming elections.

But don't rule it out. In this election campaign, four earthquakes have already struck. First: the... • More...

"…Shall We Not Revenge?"
IF ONE wants to understand what the Palestinians did on election day, one has to see the film "Paradise Now", which has been nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign film, after collecting... • More...

DÉJÀ VU!
IF ARIEL Sharon had not been in a deep coma, he would have jumped out of his bed for joy.

The Hamas victory fulfils his most ardent hopes. • More...

To Talk With Hamas
LIKE TWO very tired wrestlers who clasp each other, unable to separate, the Israeli and Palestinian societies are glued to each other.

The Palestinian elections this week took place in the shadow... • More...

Pity the Orphan
IT WAS a colorful day in Bil'in. Political flags of many colors were fluttering in the brisk breeze, the vivid election posters and the colorful graffiti on the walls adding their bit. It was the... • More...

With Friends like these…
JUDAS ISCARIOT is headed for a makeover. According to news reports, cardinals close to the new pope recommend a change in the Catholic Church's attitude towards him: exit the treacherous Jew who... • More...

Three Fingers, No Fist
A political earthquake before an election is an unusual event, but not unknown. A second earthquake in such a period is already rare. But a third earthquake before an election, a short time after... • More...

A Napoleon, Made in Israel
From early youth, he was totally convinced that he was the only person in the world who could save the State of Israel. That was an absolute certainty, free of any doubt. He just knew that he must... • More...

Who Needs a Camel?
A drunkard blacks out. His companions pour cold water on him. The drunk opens one eye, licks the water and says: "I don't know what that is, but it won't sell!"

I was reminded of this when I read... • More...

"The Main Thing is to Have No Fear!"
SOMETHING BAD is happening to the election campaign of Amir Peretz. It is just shuffling around.

The surge that started with his election as leader of Labor has petered out. Events in the country... • More...

The Pied Piper
SOME 721 YEARS ago, the town of Hamelin in Germany was suffering from a plague of rats. A citizen called Bunting offered to get rid of them for an agreed fee. When he played on his flute, the... • More...