Dr. Aly El-Samman receives French Legion of Honor

Dr. El-Samman's acceptance speech
Paris - September 3, 2012   

Mr. Ambassador, my dear friends, I am accustomed to speaking publicly or on television, but I must confess that in such special circumstances, I have lost some of my eloquence. It is true that most of the time my speeches are about the dialogue among cultures and religions, peace, the Middle-East and Arab relations with Israel (one of my favorite topics), or even about Egypt. But to speak today on the occasion of an event in my recognition, of being awarded the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor, this is by no means an easy task.

I would simply like to say that I take this award seriously. My dear Jean Felix-Paganon, your kind words mean a lot to me and the award you just gave me makes me proud because it represents my relationship with a country in which I lived for more than half a century, a country that taught me how to reconcile faith and reason. And I warn you, it is not finished!

In this venue, the Cercle de l’Union Interalliée, I feel like I find myself 40 years back in time. It was here, in 1969, that I attended a conference about the future of the situation in the Middle-East given by the general and military strategist, André Beaufre, eminent peace and war specialist. For Egyptians, above all he was the man who led the French Expeditionary Force during the Suez war in 1956. The fact that an Egyptian was present in the room surprised him. When he asked me what I thought of his analysis I found the nerve to tell him: “I think that you base your analysis on rather partial sources or to be more precise, from your old ally General Dayan.”

General Beaufre answered spontaneously: “Then it is up to you to diversify my sources!”

I took him at his word and immediately wrote President Nasser and dared suggest that he invite General Beaufre to come to Egypt. My friends did not hesitate to stress the riskiness of such an initiative. But I’ve always believed that the decision to go to war is the responsibility of governments, rarely the military, so there was no reason to hold General Beaufre responsible for the invasion.

Much to my surprise, one week later, Nasser invited General Beaufre to Cairo. It confirmed that I was right to believe that yesterday’s enemy could become tomorrow’s friend. Proof of this is the deep friendship that prevailed between General Beaufre and myself till the last few days of his life.

This unique encounter with General Beaufre symbolizes the kinds of initiatives that have punctuated my life, all based on the idea that encounters, that dialogue is the main path to understanding and reconciliation among human beings. In this spirit, I initiated the invitation made by President Nasser to Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Claude Lanzmann to come to Egypt in 1967. God knows that the three of them were ardent defenders of liberty at a time when this question was delicate in Egypt, to say the least. This was same the spirit in which I prepared the ground for the signature in 1998 of an agreement between Al-Azhar and the Vatican, an initiative considered by some conservative Muslims as a plan to convert Muslims. I would like to assure you that no Muslim were converted!

It was also in this spirit that, as a student at the University of Paris in 1959, I accepted an invitation from the Director of the Institute of Political Science to debate with a member of the Israeli Embassy, Ephraim Tari. Egypt was in the midst of a conflict with Israel and needless to say, Nasser received, many messages of protest from young Arab nationalists who thought that the mere fact of speaking with the enemy should be considered as an act of treason. In my opinion, refusing to debate meant to turn my back and ignore the situation.

Mr. Ambassador, dear friends, I could go on for hours about the significant moments in my life that link me so closely with France, but my wife Brigitte Lefebvre, French in fact, who dedicated her life to support me, and who is here today with her family, advised me to make it short to allow my friend Jean Felix-Paganon to leave for his special assignment tonight. And so I would like to say as a conclusion: Thank you my dear friends for being with me today.