An Egyptian author has threatened legal action against Israeli publishers who released an unauthorized Hebrew translation of his bestselling novel.
The novel in question is Alaa al-Aswany's novel "The Yacoubian Building". It was originally published in Arabic in 2002 and in an English translation in 2004. The book takes place in 1990, at about the time of the first Gulf War, and portrays modern Egyptian society since the coup of 1952, when King Farouk was overthrown by The Free Officers led by General Mohammed Naguib. The Yacoubian Building is an actual apartment building in downtown Cairo, in which al-Aswany, a dentist by profession, had his first office.
A best selling Arabic novel in 2002 and 2003, "The Yacoubian Building" has been translated into 23 languages worldwide. It was made into a film in 2006 and into a TV series in 2007.
The Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Understanding is the organization which had translated the novel to Hebrew, and explained that it was offering it to readers for free, to "expand cultural awareness and understanding".
In an online statement the group acknowledged that Aswany had refused to give permission for an authorized translation of the novel into Hebrew. Aswany for his part told Reuters: "This is a severe violation of my copyrights. The Yacoubian Building was translated, published and distributed for free without my permission."
While Aswany would not say whether he would ever allow an authorized translation of the novel into Hebrew, he said that publishing a translation without his permission amounted to "intellectual theft".
In fact, Aswany went as far as to accuse Israel radio of playing Egyptian songs without paying royalties. "Songs of (Egyptian singer) Umm Kulthum are broadcast every day for free on Israeli radio without respecting copyrights," he said. "This would never happen to Frank Sinatra songs."
Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979 between Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat. The main features of the treaty were the mutual recognition of each country by the other, the end of the state of war between them, and a complete withdrawal by Israeli forces from the rest of the Sinai Peninsula which Israel had captured during the Six-Day War in 1967.
The Samaria International Liaison Office, which has been monitoring the brouhaha, commented: "Gershon Baskin's 'Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information' emphatic and arrogant attitude has resulted in the exact opposite of their goals. They set out to force more mutual appreciation between Egyptians and Israelis. But instead they have provided a strong platform for Egyptian intuletuals like Alaa al-Aswany to maintain his claim that Israelis are degenerates and thieves. In this particular case we tend to agree with al-Aswany."
