Articles Authored by René Berouti
Last summer, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. René Berouti and his family in Paris. René is one of Negib Berouti's grandchildren and is my dad's second cousin. He was born in Jaffa in 1933 and may be the last living Berouti with detailed memories of life in Palestine before the Nakba. It was our first time meeting, but the connection was immediate. I was delighted to learn, among other things, that René had long been active in the struggle for Palestinian rights, dating back to his medical student years in Paris. He shared with me several essays he authored. I’m grateful that he allowed me to share them here.
The essay below, written by René Berouti, was published by the French magazine Cahier du témoignage chrétien (issue no. 48) on June 16, 1967, six days after the end of the 1967 war. In it, René analyzes the obstacles to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposes a path toward a negotiated settlement. As the article runs to over 7,000 words, I have included only the opening paragraph here, in both French and English, along with links to the full original and its English translation. The original French text appears on the left, and the English translation on the right.
La parole aux palestiniens
Une tempête de polémique s’est déclenchée en France avant et pendant la dernière guerre israélo-arabe, autour des appels à la paix ou à la guerre (« sacrée » ou « juste »). Depuis la fin des événements du 5 juin, la révolte des consciences semble s'être apaisée alors qu'à la place des menaces de « génocide » tant décriées se précise de plus en plus la réalité d'une oppression : celle des palestiniens arabes, une fois de plus victimes aussi bien de l'inconsistance des leaders arabes que du rêve sioniste, de l'impuissance arabe à poser le problème palestinien en termes adéquats, des vainqueurs israéliens obnubilés par leur nouvelle condition triomphaliste.
Lisez l'intégralité de l'article ici.
Giving the Palestinians a Voice
A storm of controversy erupted in France before and during the last Israeli-Arab war, surrounding calls for peace or war (“holy” or ‘just’). Since the end of the events of June 5, the revolt of consciences seems to have subsided, while in place of the much-maligned threats of "genocide " have increasingly given way to the reality of oppression: that of the Arab Palestinians, once again victims of both the inconsistency of Arab leaders and the Zionist dream, of Arab impotence in framing the Palestinian problem in adequate terms, and of Israeli victors obsessed with their new triumphalist status.
Read the full translated essay here.
Below is another essay by René Berouti, written in November 2018, which he sent as part of a correspondence to the French President, Emmanuel Macron. The essay is a psychoanalytic and sociological exploration of how "the foreigner" functions within French society and national identity. It argues that otherness is an essential component of individual and collective identity, rather than a threat to be suppressed, and that France's assimilationist model paradoxically fuels the very racism and social fragmentation it claims to prevent. Remarkably, President Macron replied to René through his Chief of Staff, François-Xavier Lauch, in a letter dated March 20, 2020. Both René’s essay and the President’s reply are presented below (in French original and English translation).
L’étranger et la part d’altérité de tout ideal
Il est banal de se représenter l’étranger, cet individu qui n'est pas perçu de chez soi, de notre sang, de notre terre, comme un questionneur venant rompre le confort de la familière quotidienneté et des habitudes conservatoires. Il est plus difficile de considérer que cet étranger, venant ainsi rompre l'harmonie qui habite tout idéal communautaire, puisse être du levain pour cet idéal, si tant est, comme je le pense, que l'étranger peut revivifier la part d'altérité de tout idéal. Cet étranger, que l'on appelait autrefois aubain, pourrait être une bonne aubaine pour un pays dès lors qu'il s'acquitterait de sa dette d'accueil, activement, au service des forces vives du pays et dès lors que son aspiration à un investissement de la communauté sociale serait reconnue par le pays d'accueil qui intègre cette diversité, sans que cette « hétérogénéité » ne s'impose comme inclusion d'un modèle social « étranger » dans le pays d'accueil.
Lisez l'intégralité de l'article ici.
The Foreigner and the Alterity of Every Ideal
It is commonplace to think of the stranger, that individual who is not perceived as one of our own, of our blood, of our land, as a questioner who disrupts the comfort of familiar daily life and conservative habits. It is more difficult to consider that this stranger, who thus disrupts the harmony that inhabits every community ideal, could be a catalyst for that ideal, if, as I believe, the stranger can revive the otherness of every ideal. This stranger, once called an aubain, could be a boon to a country if he actively fulfilled his debt of hospitality by serving the country’s vital forces and if his aspiration to invest in the social community was recognized by the host country, which integrates this diversity without “heterogeneity” imposing itself as the inclusion of a “foreign” social model in the host country.
Read the full translated essay here.
The following is President Macron's reply to René's article above. The original letter, in French, is on the left, and its English translation (by DeepL) is on the right.
The last essay that René sent me is titled “De certains impensés des Lumières” (in English, “Some Unspoken Assumptions of the Enlightenment”). It examines what he sees as the unexamined assumptions and internal contradictions within France's Enlightenment-derived values: specifically, universalism, secularism, and freedom of expression. He argues that these concepts have been distorted and weaponized in contemporary French political debate, particularly around Islam and immigration, and calls for a more thoughtful and genuinely liberal interpretation of each.
De certains impensés des Lumières
Universalisme - Liberté d'expression – Laïcité
Voici quelque temps que le champ médiatique, presse, réseaux sociaux, blogs, déclarations politiques, opinions individuelles, offre l'image d'un champ de bataille langagière d'où tout débat authentique, intellectuel, rationnel, a été évacué au profit d'affrontements identitaires relayant des groupes de pression parfois soutenus par un lobbying le plus souvent politique.
Lisez l'intégralité de l'article ici.
Some Unspoken Assumptions of the Enlightenment
Universalism - Freedom of expression - Secularism
For some time now, the media, press, social networks, blogs, political statements, and individual opinions have presented the image of a linguistic battlefield from which all authentic, intellectual, and rational debate has been evacuated in favor of identity clashes relaying pressure groups sometimes supported by lobbying, most often political.
Read the full translated essay here.