“The state of Israel exists, nobody can throw us into the sea. The Palestinian people exists, nobody can push them out into the desert. Our Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, wants to turn all of Palestine into a Jewish state. Muslim fundamentalists, like the Hamas and Jihad movements, want to include all of Palestine in a Muslim state. That is the direct route to catastrophe.”

— Uri Avnery, accepting the Lev Kopelev prize last week in Cologne.