Ali Salem, also transliterated Ali Salim, ( ar, على سالم, ; 24 February 1936 – 22 September 2015) was an Egyptian playwright, author, and political commentator known for controversially endorsing cooperation with Israel. The '' Los Angeles Times'' once described him as "a big, loud man known for his satiric wit".

Career

From the premiere of his first play in 1965, he wrote 25 plays and fifteen books. One of the best known, ''The School of Troublemakers'', debuted in 1971 and featured a rowdy class of children transformed by a kind teacher. His plays ''The Phantom of Heliopolis'', ''The Comedy of Oedipus'', ''The Man Who Fooled the Angels'', and ''The Buffet'' have also become "classics of the Egyptian theater". Salem's plays often include allegorical critiques of Egyptian politics with a strong vein of humor and satire. In 1994, he wrote a book entitled ''My Drive to Israel'' about a trip he took to the country to satisfy his curiosity about it following the signing of the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

. He later claimed that the trip was not "a love trip, but a serious attempt to get rid of hate. Hatred prevents us from knowing reality as it is". He spent 23 nights in Israel and concluded that "real co-operation" between the two nations should be possible. Though the book sold more than 60,000 copies, a bestseller by Egyptian standards, it provoked controversy, and Salem was subsequently ostracized from the Egyptian intellectual community and expelled from its Writer's Syndicate as a result of his "propaganda." He did not have a play or movie script produced in Egypt after the book's publication, though he continued to contribute columns to foreign media such as the London-based '' Al Hayat''. Salem's memoir was later adapted by

Ari Roth Ari Roth (born January 10, 1961) is an American theatrical producer, playwright, director and educator. From 2014 to 2020 Roth served as the Artistic Director of Mosaic Theater Company of DC and was formerly the Artistic Director of Theater J at t ...

into the play ''Ali Salem Drives to Israel'', which had its world premiere in the US in 2005. In 2008, he won the Train Foundation's $50,000 Civil Courage Prize in recognition of his opposition to

Islamic extremism Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam, is used in reference to extremist beliefs and behaviors which are associated with the Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging from academic unde ...

and his support of cooperation with Israel. He also received an honorary doctorate from Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 2005. He died in Cairo on 22 September 2015 after a long illness.

References

Articles

*Hugi, Jacky. "Death of Egyptian author who drove across Israel leaves void in Israeli-Egyptian relations", ''Al-Monitor'' on-line magazine; 30 Sept. 2015. * Mikics, David. "The Muslim World's Intellectual Refuseniks Offer Enlightened Views on Islam and Israel", ''TabletMag.com'' on-line magazine; 3 Dec. 2013.

External links

Citation for the Civil Courage Prize

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salem, Ali 1936 births 2015 deaths Egyptian dramatists and playwrights Egyptian male writers Male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 21st-century dramatists and playwrights Writers from Cairo 20th-century male writers 21st-century male writers