Tom Segev Quotations

Yes, Hitler is in Tel Aviv and the sky isn't falling. No, this doesn't mean that Israeli hearts are coarsened to the memory of the Holocaust; on the contrary ? the Holocaust is planted so deep in the components of Israeli identity that almost nothing can get to it.

We were always told we cannot use them, we cannot publish them because it would help Holocaust deniers. Now suddenly these papers are being released to fight the Holocaust deniers.

So I think the reaction to this is people saying, 'Here, politicians, divide the country and leave me alone.

He enjoys the status of a father figure. He's not anymore conceived of as a normal politician but a larger-than-life figure. He's almost like a museum-type of man. There's a feeling that the last tycoon is gone now.

Most Israelis are tired of the big decision. It is as if they're saying to the politicians do your thing and leave me alone. This used to be a very deeply divided society. For 40 years, we have been debating about the future of the territories, and people now feel that question has been decided.

For a long time Israelis have long stopped going to Gaza even if they have continued to carry out their military obligations. They are not even able to pinpoint these famous settlements on a map.

It's like everybody's a relative: the whole country's glued to the radio or the TV, waiting for details from the hospital.

He took the Holocaust out of its Jewish limitations and made it a source of energy in the universal struggle against racism and for human rights. That's probably more important than his role in locating Nazi criminals.

The truth is that deep down, the Israelis are still convinced that the presence of thousands of settlers of a hostile population of 1.3 million Palestinians is a situation that could not last.

The conspiracy theories have never had it better.

If the corrupt Jordanian monarchy were overthrown, it would be the ideal opportunity to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because the West Bank and Jordan could then be united. There is already a Palestinian majority in Jordan, and there is enough room for everyone there. That would be the best revolution I could imagine.

While we see democracy coming to the Arab world, democracy is getting weaker in Israel. Democracy is in jeopardy in Israel, and this threat is greater than the external threat.

Like most Israelis, I know very little about the Arabs. We just look down on them and see them as a threat. We have absolutely no experience with a democratic country in our vicinity. Is it good or bad for us? I am convinced that democracy isn't just good for the people in those countries, but for Israel as well.

Don't forget that the peace treaties with Egypt and later with Jordan have already survived several tests: two wars with Lebanon, two Palestinian uprisings, the attack on Gaza, the murder of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

I thought it was interesting to see that Israel did not play a role in this revolution. The man on Cairo's Tahrir Square doesn't want anything from me, but he does want something from his government. That's a good sign.

We (Israelis) always think that we're at the center of everything. It's true that we didn't make peace with Egypt and Jordan, but with two men, President Sadat and King Hussein. It is possible that we will have to restructure the peace and our relations (so that they are) between one people and another.

We could have made peace with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad a long time ago. It didn't happen, because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't want to give up the Golan (Heights).

If the region truly becomes democratic, an undemocratic bit of earth would remain here. It's hard to imagine that the world, especially the Arab world, would tolerate this.

Netanyahu adheres to his old position: He doesn't want a Palestinian state, and he doesn't want to give up the settlements and the occupied territories. Pressure from abroad is the only way to change anything.

I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. They've tried it twice before, and the consequences were bad for both sides. But I don't think the forces are there (that could carry out) an uprising against the leadership. The people that could initiate it are in Israeli prisons. And what could they hope to achieve? In the end, they're too weak to end the Israeli occupation.

Ever since our country came into existence, we have always assumed that we are better than the Arabs. But we are noticing that these are no longer backward people. Suddenly we are confronted with a new situation - the fact that the Arab world maybe thinks just as democratically as we do, perhaps even more democratically. Where does this leave us? After all, we're supposed to be the only democracy in the Middle East!

That's a deep change in priorities. People are much less political today. They have found other values of life. We are developing normal attitudes, a normal set of priorities. We are growing out of our childhood.

The saving of the Jews in Europe did not figure at the head of the list of priorities of the ruling class. It was the foundation of the State which was primordial in their eyes.