Letter from M. Tarek Heggy
19 February 2005
Dear Ada,
The meeting with yourself, your husband
and the Israelis from Egypt at Tel Aviv on Monday 7th February was heart
touching. Probably nothing has cheered me up recently as this meeting did. It
was (undoubtedly) the peak of my recent visit to Israel.
I take this opportunity to tell you
that I thoroughly enjoyed reading the story of Thea Wolf more than any book I recently read. I perused it
(in full) three times: in Tel Aviv on 7th February… on board of the plane from
Tel Aviv to Frankfurt on 8th February… and in the train from Frankfurt to
Munich on 9th February. To say the least: “What a great story… what a great
woman.. what a talented author”. You made me feel that I always knew “Thea”. I
lived (with mind and heart) in every page of this peerless book. I felt very
proud of “Thea” and of every Egyptian who volunteered to help her in
Alexandria… in Ismailia… in Heliopolis airport… and in the train to Haifa in
1947.
I have just returned to Egypt after
four weeks abroad during which I had useful meetings in DC at the Vice
President’s Office, The State Department, The Hill, The National Security
Council and at several Think-Tanks. I also recorded a number of interviews at
Al-Hurrah Satellite Channel Station.
In Israel I had a number of academic
activities at the Tel Aviv University (TAU) including meetings with a large
number of professors and Middle Eastern experts at TAU. My meetings with Shimon
Peres, Vice Prime Minister; Shaul Mofaz, Minister of Defense); Ehud Olmert,
Vice Prime Minister; and with the top echelon of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs were most useful. My meeting on 7th February with about fifty Jews from
Egypt was a peerless experience.
This meeting was a live demonstration
of a seldom intellectual and emotional harmony. My visit to “Yad Washem” on 3rd
February was an emotional and intellectual earthquake. I read a great deal
about the Holocaust, but as the Arabic proverb says, “this who saw in not like
that who heard”, the two hours I spent (with a peerless guide) at “Yad Washem”
were nothing but an earthquake.
The minute I returned to my hotel room,
I started writing my reflections on “The Ugliest Face of Humanity”. It was
ironical that from Israel I went directly to Germany to lecture at the NATO
School in Oberammergau. This time I saw Germany with different eyes and kept
asking: “What is the value of this excellence and perfection, if it is produced
by the children and grandchildren of those who showed humanity the ugliest face
it ever saw (1932/1945)?… What is the value of the perfection that I always
admired?”.
In Tel Aviv my meeting with Bernard
Lewis was an opportunity to revive this valuable friendship.
In Bavaria, Germany, I enjoyed (as
usual) lecturing to very senior officers from twenty-five countries at the NATO
School.
With my kindest personal regards,
Tarek Heggy.
http://www.metransparent.com/authors/english/heggy_english.htm
http://www.metransparent.com/authors/french.htm
http://www.windsofchange.net (Tarek Heggy)