Israeli writer Amos Oz has died at the age of 79 after a long illness. The writer's eldest daughter, Fania Oz-Salzberger, gave the news with a message on Twitter: "My beloved father died of cancer, just now, after a rapid decline, in sleep and tranquility, surrounded by his Dear. He please respect our privacy. I can't answer calls. Thanks to those who loved him." The works of Oz (last name, the real one was Klausner, a family of right-wing intellectuals originally from Eastern Europe) have been translated into 45 languages and published in 47 countries. The most famous, considered a masterpiece, is A story of love and darkness, published in 2002 and dedicated to the mother Fania, who died by suicide in 1952, when Amos was 13, leaving him forever wounded. The mother of the writer native of Jerusalem was in turn an intellectual: she knew 7 languages, but her father, a librarian, who knew 16 languages did even better.
Oz was born in Jerusalem in 1939 and raised on Kibbutz Hulda; he had studied philosophy and literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1960 he married Nili (with whom he had three children) and the following year, at only 22, he published his first works. In over 50 years of activity, he has written over 18 works in Hebrew, including novels, short stories and essays, along with 500 articles and editorials for Israeli and international magazines. Among his most famous books, "The Black Box", "A Story of Love and Darkness" and "In the Land of Israel".
In addition to being an influential intellectual, was one of the most widely heard critical voices at home and abroad. His experience in the army – first with compulsory military service, then during the Six Day War in 1967 and that of Yom Kippur in 1973 – had led him to be an active proponent of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. He had also written at length about the conflicts between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors. His voice had also been raised in more recent years, on the occasion of the wars in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip, urging us to take the path of dialogue and moderation.
