The “Intruders”

Among Egypt's enemies still to be counted – and foremost among them – are the “intruders” : I talked about them last year much to their dismay. They claimed I had targeted all the Syrians and tried to create a rift between us and their fellow countrymen. I say today, loud and clear that Egypt counts many friends in the Syrian community. The intruders are a well known gang ; they reneged on their homeland and have repaid Egypt's hospitality with ingratitude and hatred. Is there any need to show them up, to name the intruders ? Are they not the abusers of any faithful patriot, of our sovereign and of the Egyptian nation ? Why are they so surprised when we call them “intruders” while they daily advise us to abandon our country, while they reserve for the Sultan and the khedive the vilest insults ?

Mustafa Kamel Pacha, Egyptiens et Anglais, Paris, 1906, translation of extracts from the speech given in Arabic, Alexandria, 7 June 1897, p. 157-184