Israeli writer and peace activist Amos Oz accepted the prestigious Goethe cultural prize from the German city of Frankfurt Sunday for his life's work. Oz picked up the award, which carries a 50,000-euro (61,400-dollar) cash prize, at St Paul's Church in the German business capital on the anniversary of the birth of the German poet in 1749.
The prize committee said they had selected the 66-year-old for his "thematic variety and stylistic virtuosity, making him one of the most important contemporary authors".
Oz said in an acceptance speech that he attempted in his work to understand the views of others as an "antidote to fanaticism and hate".
Previous winners of the prize, awarded every three years, include the psychologist Sigmund Freud (1930), authors Herman Hesse (1946) and Thomas Mann (1948), Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1976) and French sociologist Raymond Aron (1979).
Oz's work, including the novels "Black Box" and "To Know a Woman," has been translated into about 30 languages. He is an outspoken advocate of a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.