Readers' corner

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Could they be real?

Sir -- While in Luxor some months ago, a little shop offered me some tiny and dusty but very charming little souvenirs which the owner claimed to be original antiques. I thought it was just a tactic to get an exaggerated price since he was offering these for sale in full view of a policeman. While I understood that the sale of antiquities is illegal there exists in Africa an old traditional technique called technique de la cire perdue using wax and mud in casting sculptures. But on examining these souvenirs more closely, it seems possible they might be genuine. They are tiny but very refined: a pendant in the form of a blue dog, a blue falcon, a greenish Pharaonic head, and a yellow scarab exposed on a shelf, slightly chipped but finely incised with hieroglyphs.

Nicole Kong
Florida
USA

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Myopic vision

Sir-- Please know that your excellent professional reporting and commentary is followed by readers around the world, including here in the United States. I have just read 'Netanyahu cornered' which prompted me to write ( Al-Ahram Weekly, 11-17 June). I must say Netanyahu's "vision" for a Palestinian state sounds more like a continuation of the occupation, or an autonomous region of Israel, than a state. No sovereignty means no state, pure and simple.

Don Voss
Missouri
USA

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Explanation needed

Sir-- Re 'Iran 2009: Choosing a future' ( Al-Ahram Weekly, 11- 17 June), the Iranian people are attempting to question the validity of this election with the same candor Ahmadinejad uses in questioning the validity of the Holocaust. He, and many other Muslims, have long and loudly cried "Western hypocrisy" because questioning whether the Holocaust happened is taboo and can get you put in jail in Germany. Now he has warned Iranians that criticising whether he won the election is taboo and will get them put in jail in Iran. Why are there no complaints from the Muslim media concerning this hypocrisy?

Jane Likwich
California
USA

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The game will end

Sir-- Why don't we just face reality and stop the mumbo jumbo ('Dismay prevails' Al-Ahram Weekly, 11-17 June).

There is no land left for a Palestinian state. There is no East Jerusalem and there will be no right of return for the Palestinian refugees. Major settlements are here to stay and outposts are of little significance in a conflict of such huge scale. Israelis have played their game well until lately but fortunately, no one can save Israel from Israelis. Demography and ethnicity are on our side and it is just a matter of time before Israel destroys itself from within and becomes a footnote in history.

Cherifa Sirry
Cairo
Egypt

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Same story

Sir-- It's such a shame that Egypt threw away all what it did against Brazil and Italy (in the Confederations Cup in South Africa) with that strange defeat against the US. It appears that once again, Egyptian over-confidence got the better of the players. They thought the Americans would be pushovers when compared to two of the superpowers of the sport.

Mohamed Sherif
Cairo
Egypt