Ali Salem
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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 Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. The ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' 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. 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 Al-Hayat ( ar, الحياة meaning "Life") was a London-based, pan-Arab newspaper owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, that had a circulation estimated over 200,000. It was the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred v ...
''. Salem's memoir was later adapted by Ari Roth 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 John Pell Coster Train (May 25, 1928 – August 13, 2022) was an American investment advisor and writer. He was a founding editor of ''The Paris Review''. Early life Train was born on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Helen Coster Gerard and ...
's $50,000
Civil Courage Prize The Civil Courage Prize is a human rights award which recognizes "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk—rather than military valor." The prize was founded in 2000 by the Northcote Parkinson Fund. The goal of the prize is not to cr ...
in recognition of his opposition to Islamic extremism and his support of cooperation with Israel. He also received an honorary doctorate from Israel's
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...
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