A recent statement by the Minister of State for Antiquities Ahmed Eissa during a community dialogue forum with residents from the village of Nazlet Al-Samman near the Giza Plateau has created a brouhaha in the media, writes Nevine El-Aref. Eissa announced that if the allegedly aggressive behaviour of some of the vendors and parking attendants at the Giza Plateau continued, sometimes harassing tourists by demanding large sums of money for souvenirs and rides or to park their cars, there was a danger that the area as a whole could be placed off limits. The lack of security that overwhelmed the country during and after the 25 January Revolution has certainly taken its toll, and it is widely felt that the sanctity of the spiritual and archaeological environment of the Giza Plateau has effectively been desecrated by vendors, peddlers, and horse and camel owners who have violated the law and entered the archaeological protected zone in attempts to find clients. Aggressive parking attendants, who some people believe are thugs and not attendants at all, have stopped vehicles at the entrance of the plateau asking them for money to park cars and frightening tourists and even some Egyptians. Similar things have happened on the plateau itself, where visitors have been asked for money in exchange for a ride on a horse or a camel or even to buy souvenirs. Such incidents have caused the US embassy in Cairo to issue a warning to US citizens to stop visiting the Giza Plateau, as tourists are harassed by vendors and horse-owners. The warning led Eissa to call for a community dialogue forum with Nazlet Al-Samman residents, many of whom are believed to work in the tourist industry, and the Giza governorate to discuss ways of stopping encroachments onto the plateau and tighter security measures. Eissa said the US embassy's warning was “baseless” as any complaints had been reported to the ministries of tourism or antiquities and the tourism and antiquities police. He called on all concerned, as well as the Nazlet Al-Samman residents, to work in order to address the problem with transparency and honesty. Eissa also created a new committee to follow up problems on the plateau and in neighbouring areas, this producing a monthly report on the problems and solutions to help solve them. The committee consists of representatives from the Ministry of State for Antiquities, the ministries of tourism and the interior, representatives from the Giza governorate, and civil society and Nazlet Al-Samman residents. The move was described by some as a positive step to build bridges with villagers from Nazlet Al-Samman. Eissa warned vendors that the site could even be closed if they continued to harass visitors. The statement created a brouhaha, with many wondering how the minister could even think of closing such an important archaeological site during a period when Egypt was suffering from a decline in its tourism industry and the negative impacts of this on the country's income. Eissa told Al-Ahram Weekly that he would never close the archaeological site, but that he wanted to make it clear to vendors that their behaviour was threatening to drive away visitors. If the present situation continued, he said, there was a danger that the Giza Plateau would suffer from a lack of security and no one would visit the site. “This would mean that the site would be deserted and closed to all intents and purposes even if it was still officially open to the public,” Eissa said. Eissa called on tourists and tour-guides to approach security personnel in the area if they faced any form of harassment. On the other hand, the community nearby blamed the Giza governor for the lack of cleaning of the plateau, which now suffers from unsightly animal dung and garbage. Eissa said that a private company had won the bid launched by the Tourism Ministry to help preserve the plateau from encroachment. The company was using state-of-the-art machines to collect the dung and was recycling the garbage, he said. Stone rubbish bins similar in material to the plateau rock had been installed at different locations on the site, he added. Giza Governor Ali Abdel-Rahman said that the governorate would be issuing licences to some vendors at the site to sell their goods, but only if they respected law and order and did not harass visitors. If a report was made against any vendor, Abdel-Rahman said, his licence could be subject to cancellation.
