Sana Hassan, an Egyptian writer and journalist, arrived here yesterday, the first Egyptian journalist to visit Israel since the Six-Day War. Ms. Hassan, a Ph.D. candidate in government at Harvard, the daughter of a former Egyptian Ambassador to the United States and a wife of a senior Egyptian official, has written frequently on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
During the American Jewish Committee’s annual meeting in New York last May. Ms. Hassan debated the Arab-Israeli issue with Arie Eliav, a leading Labor Party dove. Mrs. Suzy Eban, wife of former Foreign Minister Abba Eban, attended the meeting and was instrumental in getting Ms. Hassan her visa from the Israeli consulate in Boston.
“I want to look and see and listen with open eyes and open ears to try to understand.” Ms, Hassan said, explaining she plans to stay for three months meeting Israelis in order to write on “Israel in the eyes of an Egyptian.” She noted that “since not every Egyptian can meet Israelis, it is important for journalists to lay the foundations for a true peace since they can relay a true picture to the other side of what goes on in the other country.”
Ms. Hassan said that the first place she went to see was Dizengoff Street of which she has heard so much and it immediately reminded her of Alexandria with its modern houses, cafes and restaurants, verandas, heat, and smell of the sea. A book written by Ms. Hassan and the Israeli journalist Amos Elon is scheduled to be published next month. She arrived here accompanied by the French-Jewish artist. Marc Halter, and his wife, Clara, editor of the Movement for Peace in the Middle East.
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