In the years before his death, Amos Oz visited Bedouin communities in the Negev desert to express solidarity with them. On one of these visits, in 2010, Oz described the situation he saw as a “ticking time bomb.”

Suggested Activity: Read the quote from Amos Oz, contextualizing for the students when and where he made these statements. Have students reflect on Oz’s portrayal of the Bedouin in “Nomad and Viper.” Ask: what was your impression of the language he used in the story? Do you think that the empathy he expressed in later years for the Bedouin people is present in “Nomad and Viper”? Identify passages from the story that support your conclusion. What do you make of his comments from 2010 when you put them in conversation with a story he wrote fifty years earlier?