Egypt is considering publishing stories by Israeli authors whom the country considers "opponents of Zionism."

Gaber Asfur, the head of Egypt's Center for Translation in the Culture Ministry, told AFP he was considering publishing Arabic translations of short stories by famed Israeli author Amos Oz, as well as author David Grossman's "The Yellow Wind” (which rails against “the Israeli occupation” of land captured in 1967), and works by so-called new historians Tom Segev and Avi Shlaim.

The decision by the ministry prompted a media debate in Egypt. Critics of the plan said that the real motivation behind the announcement was connected to Culture Minister Farouk Hosni's ill-fated candidacy to head UNESCO. The candidacy faced intense criticism because of a past statement by the culture minister that he would like to burn Hebrew-language books.

Know Thine Enemy
Egyptian clerics and academics seethed against the government decision, but according to a report by MEMRI, the Culture Ministry denied the accusations that it was trying to ingratiate itself with Israel or improve relations with the Jewish neighbor in any way. “It is very important that the Arab reader read the books of the Israeli historians so that he becomes acquainted with his enemy's culture. We even translate writings by the enemies of Islam, and turn to experts to respond to them,” the ministry said

"We have to know our enemy," Asfur told the BBC. "Israel acts with injustice and inhumanity, we have to learn more about them. More than we already know. We have to translate everything." He said that since the 1960s, only about ten books had been translated from Hebrew, and that in 2000, further translations also had ceased.

Arutz Sheva's Hebrew service reported that another reason for translating works by Oz and Grossman, according to Asfur, was that the Egyptian citizens needed to know that there were Israeli writers who “oppose Zionist thought and the principles of the State of Israel.”