Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		26 Sept. - 2 October 2002 Issue No. 605 Home news	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

A matter of opinion
THE EGYPTIAN press slammed US Ambassador to Egypt David Welch for a commentary he wrote that was published by Al-Ahram newspaper on 20 September. Welch attacked recent articles that questioned whether Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qa'eda was behind the 11 September attacks.
"This can harm Egypt's media in the eyes of the world. I hope newspaper editors take this into account when they review articles before publication," Welch wrote. "A responsible media must publish the truth not lies, and people should know the difference," he added. A statement issued on Saturday by newspaper columnists, writers and intellectuals said Welch should "go back to his country", and accused the US media of "only seeing the region through Israeli eyes".
"He talks as if he's addressing slaves or citizens of some banana republic... Whether he is the ambassador of the United States or Micronesia, it's odd that he should tell Egyptian journalists how to think and write," it said.
After meeting with Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher on Monday, Welch told reporters: "I think it is appropriate to look at facts and work from facts. That is the basis from which you can have an opinion. Everybody has their own opinion about things. I have my opinion, you may have yours. What I was trying to do in my piece is draw some observations about what the facts are."
Egyptian solidarity
ISRAELI troops reportedly shot dead Abdel-Fattah Suleiman, an Egyptian, near a military roadblock in the southern Gaza Strip, claiming he was armed. However, his mother, Ferial Mohamed, insists he is still alive and living in France.
Suleiman, 27, entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt in December 2000, about three months after the start of the Intifada, in a bid to fight alongside the Palestinians. He had been living in the southern border town of Rafah, hiding in local residents' homes and using an identity card that had belonged to a Palestinian.
Some of Suleiman's relatives identified him when journalists brought family members a picture of the dead man, who was killed on 16 September, as they sought to confirm whether or not the man was the first Egyptian to die in the Palestinian territories during the two-year-long Intifada.
Suleiman's two brothers, Osama, 21, and Ahmed, 12, are certain that the man in the pictures is not their brother. The dead man had a beard while Suleiman did not, they said. They also said that when Suleiman had last spoken to him seven months ago, he told them he was in France.
Despite doubts expressed by Suleiman's family, other relatives said that the man in the photo was Suleiman, despite the mustache and beard.
A number of Egyptians have been caught trying to cross the border between Egypt and Israel in recent months in a bid to join the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation.
The most recent incident occurred last week when a 15-year-old girl was shot in the leg by Egyptian security forces as she tried to cross the Egyptian border into Gaza. Security forces opened fire at Mariam Abd-Rabbu Salama's legs after she ignored warnings to halt. Salama was taken to hospital for treatment in the nearby Egyptian coastal city of Al-Arish.
Tourism recovery
EGYPTIAN tourism has recovered from the aftermath of 11 September, said Tourism Minister Mamdouh El-Beltagui. Some 574,000 visitors entered the country in August, an "unprecedented [monthly figure] in the history of Egyptian tourism", Beltagui said.
Beltagui said both Arab and European visitors had contributed to the resurgence in tourism. During the past year, the number of European tourists rose by 17.3 per cent, while the figure for Arab tourists increased by 26 per cent.
Italians were the biggest group to come to Egypt last month with approximately 100,000 arrivals.
Beltagui said a crisis management plan adopted by his Ministry, which included special advertising and travel incentives, had helped Egypt become one of the first countries in the region to regain normal levels of tourism.
The Union of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce had said that the 11 September attacks on the United States had cost Egypt around $1 billion in lost revenue, owing mainly to the decline in tourism. That figure was much lower than previous official estimates which ranged from $2.4 to four billion in lost revenue.
An honest art-lover
A RELIEF that was revealed to be a Pharaonic artefact will return home from Germany to Egypt next week, reports Nevine El-Aref.
The recovery of Egypt's stolen treasures always seems to manage to capture headlines, bringing into play lurid tales of thieves and international dragnets.
The story of the portion of a limestone relief that came from Montemhat's tomb located in Assaseef, Luxor governorate, is a tamer one that begins with a legatee's curiosity and ends with her handing over the artefact to authorities.
Almost one year ago, a German woman inherited a well-preserved coloured limestone relief. Not knowing whether it was authentic and interested in learning more about the item, she showed it to Egyptologist Ingrid Gamer-Wallert from the Agiyptologisces Institut UniversitŠt in Tubingen in Germany. After examining the 20cm by 12cm-sized relief, Gamer-Wallert identified the piece as part of a larger scene from an inner wall inside the tomb of Montemhat, a 25th dynasty mayor of Thebes.
When the German woman, who requested anonymity, realised that she had in her possession a genuine artefact and one of Egypt's missing treasures, she immediately offered to turn it over to the Egyptian government.
Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said the relief is in good condition. He described it as depicting an unidentified person, whose left hand is raised, standing in front of a linen plant. Hieroglyphic inscriptions appear a the top of the relief.
The artefact was handed over to the Egyptian Embassy in Germany. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni ordered Ahmed Abdel-Fattah, head of Alexandria's Graeco-Roman museum, to accompany the relief on its journey home.
Compiled by Shaden Shehab

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