Israeli bookstores are currently being stocked with the novel Azazeel, by Youssef Ziedan, the philosopher from Alexandria. Azazeel is one of the most important books to be published in Arabic over the past decade. Now it can be read in Hebrew, too.

The plot of the story is the flight of a fifth-century Coptic monk named Hypa from his homeland in Egypt. It happens during the spread of Christianity, when agents of the church were imposing their religion by force, with strong-arm policies directed at pagans and Jews. Hypa, who witnesses brutal murders done in the name of the Holy Cross, flees from his village in Upper Egypt to Alexandria. From there he continues on to the Land of Israel, and then to the outskirts of Aleppo, searching for inner peace and tranquility. His journey is both physical and spiritual/philosophical in nature. It revolves around his struggle with "Azazeel" (which can mean "devil" or "demon"), who is actually Satan himself.

Azazeel was awarded the prestigious “Arab Booker” International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2009, and has been translated into 16 languages. In his academic career, Ziedan specializes in Islamic philosophy and ancient manuscripts. He remained close to the themes of his research in Azazeel, but instead of searching for the truth, he imagined it. Through his protagonist, Ziedan offers a harsh critique of people who use violence in the name of religion. For anyone familiar with the author, a vocal critic of the Muslim Brotherhood in his home country, one can only wonder whether he was aiming his slings and arrows at Christians alone.

The release of an Egyptian novel in Israel is no routine event. The number of Egyptian literary translations into Hebrew is very low. If it is any consolation, the situation is worse in other forms of cultural expression. In cinema, sports and theater, for example, there is zero contact between the two societies. The main barrier facing Israeli publishers is the opposition by authors in Cairo to granting Israelis the rights to translate their books. This opposition is political in nature, with the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories is cited as the reason. For many years, this opposition has been backed by the Egyptian authorities. Just three years ago, Ziedan’s colleague Alaa Al-Aswany protested when he learned that his best-seller The Yacoubian Building, which had been translated into Hebrew on the Internet, was distributed online without his permission.