Anyone who has ever read anything by Amos Oz knows that he's one of the greatest writers of our time (start with A Tale of Love and Darkness). He may have come from a prominent old family - his great-uncle Joseph Klausner was a very famous intellectual in his day and Chaim Weitzman's Heirut opponent for Israeli president - but his novels are by and large portraits of Israel's forgotten people. Like Chekhov and Faulkner before him, he's most interested in giving three-dimensional portrayals of people far worse off than he is and he's far more fascinated by the lives of people affected by the decisions of leaders than he is in those who make them.

And he's not just a great writer but also an important moral voice: a founding member of Peace Now and the first prominent Israeli to warn of what a disaster the settlements would be (with the sole exception of David Ben-Gurion). He's also no doctrinaire leftist, and he shows that you can still have principled opposition to many of the Israeli government's policies without playing into the hands of people who rather see the State of Israel disappear. So when he SAYS to believe that peace between Israelis and Palestinians is closer than we think, I believe him.