A retired Egyptian army general who founded Egypt's special operations unit has enlisted Egyptian courts in an effort to demolish the historic St.Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai as a security threat. While hopefully this effort will be a non-starter, it should give pause to our State Department and thinking members of the archaeological community that such a high ranking officer is taking such a stand.
Of course, any MOU with Egypt will effectively give the "State Department Seal of Approval" to the Egyptian military's control over artifacts from Egypt's past and unleash US Customs to repatriate undocumented artifacts back to Egypt's military rulers.
So again, one must ask is any MOU really about conservation or control and will it really protect Egyptian artifacts or award them to those whose interests lay elsewhere?
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