Discussing the situation of Palestinians living in Israel, Hare praises David Grossman's book Sleeping on a Wire , and goes on to mention divisions within the Palestinian camp. In Via Dolorosa , for example, he meets the poet Hussein Barghouti in Ramallah. No search for common ground whatsoever. Barghouti also makes a strong point about the cultural politics of seeing the Middle East through Western eyes. After the Cold War, the West needs another scapegoat.
Hare is acutely conscious of the problems involved in the politics of representation.
Some Jews said that the play made them ashamed of being Jewish. So I changed the balance, whereby I hope I have made the Israelis, apart from the settlers, as attractive as the Palestinians. Much of its humour comes from Hare being an outsider who is watching another family's quarrel. But being an outsider, claims Hare, also gives him a more general insight into the possibilities of creating peace. If you let outsiders into the quarrel, then some of the sting will be taken out of that quarrel.