KEY POINTS:
Menahem Milson was having dinner in a Jerusalem restaurant with an American congressman when the owner approached and said: "Colonel Milson, you're wanted on the phone by the Prime Minister's office".
It was the Prime Minister's military aide on the line. "Menahem," he said, "better make sure your
class A uniform is pressed."
It was Wednesday, November 16, 1977. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who the week before had made his startling declaration of readiness to go to Israel to make peace, was due to arrive on Saturday night.
The military aide to Menahem Begin informed Milson that he had been chosen to serve as Sadat's aide-de-camp during his visit.
A professor of Arabic literature at Hebrew University, Milson was on a two-year leave of absence, serving as adviser on Arab affairs to the military government in the West Bank.
When Sadat's plane landed, Milson was standing alongside Begin and President Ephraim Katzir to receive the Egyptian leader.
Flitting in and out of Milson's mind as the aeroplane taxied to a stop were his past encounters with Egyptians - on the battlefield and in the tranquillity of his study. As a young paratroop officer, he had jumped behind Egyptian lines at the Mitla Pass in Sinai in the Sinai Campaign 21 years before.
But he had spent almost all his adult life studying and teaching modern Egyptian literature.
"I thought of those of us who had fought and fallen," he said in a recent interview, "and I thought of those who had studied Arabic language and culture in the hopes that we would be a bridge to understanding."
The tension was visible on Sadat's face when he descended. After shaking the hands of Katzir and Begin he turned to the officer alongside them.
Milson saluted. "I have the honour to present myself as your aide for the duration of your visit to our country."
Delighted at the fluent Arabic, Sadat threw up his hands and said "bravo". The next morning, Milson joined Egyptian journalists and writers in Sadat's party for breakfast.
The visitors discovered that the Israeli officer not only spoke flawless Arabic but was a literary scholar intimately familiar with much of their work. Despite his physical proximity to the Egyptian leader, Milson did not have occasion to exchange more than a few words with him during the visit. That was enough, however, for Sadat to invite him to visit Cairo.
An impeccable command of Arabic by an outsider is appreciated by Arabs for whom the rich language is a key part of their identity.
In 1979, Sadat returned to Israel to attend a ceremony in Beersheba. Milson, who had meanwhile returned to academia, was in the audience. The head of Sadat's security detail spotted him.
"I must inform the President," he said. "He always mentions you."
Milson was ushered into the presence of Sadat who repeated his invitation.
Milson visited Cairo shortly afterwards - his first visit to Egypt since his jump at the Mitla Pass. He was provided with a car, driver and hotel accommodation during his week-long stay.
He had a 45-minute audience with Sadat at the President's private home near the Nile where the Egyptian leader introduced him to his family.
The then Vice-President and current President, Hosni Mubarak, also was present.
Milson is today chairman of the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute.
Sadat, he says, was an emotional and courageous leader. "He broke the taboo, the notion that Israel is a pariah nation. It took tremendous imagination and courage. He was a great man."
