By Zahi Hawass When Omar Sharif kissed Barbara Streisand in his famous movie Funny Girl, the entire audience screamed. The kiss caused much anger throughout the Arab world, because at the time the Arab-Israeli conflict was going on, which had begun soon after the war of 1967. Arab people did not like to see Sharif kissing a Jewish woman, and so they began to criticise him. What could he say? Sharif is an Egyptian Christian who converted to Islam after marrying his love, Faten Hamama. At the time, he was living in Hollywood. When the press interviewed Sharif about this kiss, he replied: "When I kiss a lady, I never ask her about her religion." He added that he had taught his son, Tarek, the same lesson. Tarek, who is now 53 years old, and who travelled to Santo Domingo with us, was married to a Christian woman who bore him his first son, and then wed a Muslim woman with whom he had his second son, and is currently married to another Christian woman who just gave birth to his third son. At the Third International Film Festival held in the Dominican Republic, Sharif was honoured by the country's president, Leonel Fernandez. Both President Fernandez, and his beautiful wife, Margarita, were happy to receive Sharif in their country. The following day in Santo Domingo, the president threw a special party at the presidential palace in honour of Sharif. The couple invited many people involved in the country's culture, politics, and finances, as well as ambassadors from various countries. For half an hour, Sharif signed autographs, kissed the ladies, and had photographs taken with all the guests. When the president arrived with his beautiful wife, Sharif stood beside them. The speaker recited all of Sharif's achievements, and then the president awarded him a medal of knighthood of Christopher Columbus placing it around Sharif's neck. This was followed by a beautiful, heartfelt speech by the president about Sharif and how his dream was to receive the actor into his country. The president explained that, when he was 10 years old and living in New York City, he saw the film Doctor Zhivago, and had never forgotten the experience. The story of the amazing President Fernandez should be taught to young people. It tells how he was born into a poor family, but grew up studying law, then became a politician and was promoted to being the president of paradise -- the Dominican Republic. I hope that one-day President Fernandez will write his life story. It was the dream of President Fernandez to meet Sharif; he even called his own son Omar. Then the first lady, Margarita, took the microphone, which broke protocol, and spoke freely about how she had recently purchased the film Doctor Zhivago and had watched it with her daughter for four hours, again and again. Following this, Sharif gave a speech from the heart in Spanish about "paradise on earth" and his new found love for the Dominican and its people. I, myself, gave a lecture on the last day, at the President Fernandez Foundation. This is a unique foundation for politics and the economy. It made me happy to see Sharif seated in the first row, because I knew that he would offer me constructive criticism about my lecture. At the end of my talk, someone from the presidential office informed us that the president was there to see us. When we arrived, the president took Sharif by the hand and elaborated on the purpose of his foundation. He then proceeded to say that he had a surprise to show us. The president brought us to a movie theatre for the showing of Doctor Zhivago. We were afraid that we would have to sit through the entire four-hour film. We watched as the image of a young boy, aged seven, holding a bouquet of flowers bid farewell to his deceased mother. This boy, representing the character of Dr Zhivago as a young man, was in fact played by Sharif's son, Tarek, who happily sat beside us in the movie theatre, reminiscing about his childhood.
