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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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The root of the ill
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Interview Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
Sir-Ever since Mr Netanyahu came to power in Israel, I have been following the strange way he has been conducting Israeli policies towards the Arabs with great apprehension and disappointment, undoubtedly like many other Egyptians.I cannot help wondering just how valid today is what Sir John Nicholls, British ambassador to Tel Aviv from 1954 on-ards, said after a few months at his post: "The centre of infection in the re-ion is Israel and I believe that we must treat the Israelis as a sick people." The quotation is from Keith Kyle's admirable book Suez, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991, p 67.
Mamdouh El-Dakhakhni
Alexandria
The veil and the face
Sir-I read with great interest and enjoy-ent your 11-17 March issue. I especial-y liked the articles commemorating the 1919 demonstration by Egyptian women, so well reviewed by Yunan Labib Rizk. What I loved most of all was the picture on the front page: the quiet beauty, character, elegance and style of this great lady, Safiya Zaghlul. How could she be Umm Al-Misriyin, and how can we go back to wearing the niqab in this day and age? Some women even cover the slit showing the eyes with black lace!This increasing number of young women -- most of them carry babies and are accompanied by young men -- worries me. This will affect the development of future generations. I cannot imagine us -- Egyptian women -- regressing instead of progressing. What I especially can't understand is how such women are allowed to drive, or are admitted to certain places requiring identification. How can we know who is under the niqab?
I see this as a danger sign.
Reine Naggar
Cairo
Balloon flop
Sir-In your edition of 25-31 March, you reported on an extraordinary event that occurred for the first time ever, and of which Egypt was a part. That event was the landing of the balloon Breitling Orbiter 3. And on what page was that event reported in your newspaper? Ah, it was reported in the sports section, on page 19. Not on the first page, no. And how many columns did it take to cover that event? Only two half-page columns. What was on page 1, with a large photograph and on the whole of page 5, with six photographs? Ah, there were three reports on the visit of the US First Lady. Lucky for her. Really, I didn't believe I was reading Al-Ahram Weekly. From what I read in the report, I could conclude that the reporter, Ms Nashwa Abdel-Tawab, didn't bother to go down there to witness what has happened and to take photos. Now why was that? I am sure that you, as journalists, knew very well that all the international media was following up on this extraordinary event hour by hour. They reported extensively on the honour the crew felt, landing in Egypt as they had planned to do from the start of the trip, though they did not land near the Pyramids as they wished. The British and US newspapers I read reported more extensively than you did. You should have covered this event more extensively.Akef Adib Qusous
Amman
JordanWhile we thank you for your comments, in fact, Nashwa Abdel-Tawab was one of the only two Egyptian reporters who at-ended the landing to cover the event first hand.
The Editor
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