By Our Special Correspondent
Thrissur, Feb 01 (IVC) The noted Israeli poet Amir Or sought to bridge the divide between Arab and Jews apply with literature and art.
“You need to create your peace to write amidst the conflicts. I have been trying to create peace through dialogues”, said Amir Or, poet ,novelist and essayist from Israel and co-coordinator of the UN-supported project ‘Poets for Peace’.
Speaking on the side-lines of the International Literature Festival of Kerala Mr Or said here on Jan 30, art and literature could function as powerful reminders to the world that love had the power to conquer hate and wars.
Mr Or founder of the Helicon Society established for the welfare of the Israeli poetry, formed an Arabic-Hebrew Helicon Poetry School for encouraging people writing Arabic and Hebrew poetry.
The school was an experiment to build a bridge between realities on both sides, he added. He trained several youngsters and encouraged Jewish and Arabic poets to translate each other’s works.
“To translate someone’s work you need to hear his/her story. The School was a platform for mutual dialogue. We worked together, watched the beauty of nature together, and started knowing each other.” Or a great admirer of classics –Greek, Latin and Indian- he has translated sotries from Mahabharat to Hebrew. “India’s cultural richness has always excited me. The essence of each country remains in the literature written in its own language. India is traditionally rich in cultural diversity”, the poet said.
As a poet coming from the conflict zone, Mr Or said: “For me spirituality is an individual search. If one can’t respect the religion of others, it is not a religion but an oppressive power. Over the years of conflicts, the fanatics and the extremists get stronger. The more the people fear, the stronger they become”.
