By Zahi Hawass The actions of the British Embassy against our symbols are not acceptable. The Supreme Council of Antiquities has decided that we will not give them any privileges at all. We will not give an antiquities pass to any one. We will not receive their visitors. Our relations with their scientists will be cold. It is one to one. This is what Egypt has to do and this is what I am doing now. The British ambassador has the right to do anything within his embassy and we have the right to deal with and treat them in the same manner. I remember the great ambassador Sir Derek Plumbly and his wife, Nadia. They tried to do everything to facilitate anything for the Egyptians and were always very kind. They knew how to capture the hearts of the Egyptians. I do not understand why the attitude has changed but we have to treat them the same. We cannot give them Egyptian hospitality, if they do not treat us with the same respect. When I was at the British Embassy, I asked myself, if they treat me in this way how do they treat other Egyptians? I know that Ahmed Abul-Geit, minister of foreign affairs, has ordered that all foreigners are to be treated the same. They have to pay the same amount that we pay and they have to know that this is a decision of the country. I myself do not want to visit their countries at all. I do not even want to deal with them. I was so happy to hear that my friend Mohamed Farid Khamis is calling for equal treatment from European embassies because they have refused to give visas to the people who work with him. Because of this Khamis called for a meeting and explained that he wanted to send one of his employees to Germany to buy machines for his company but the German Embassy denied him a visa. Also Hussein Shabour, a businessman and president of the Shooting Club, had a problem with the Belgian Embassy when they refused to give visas to the synchronised swimming team to participate in an international competition. However, the Belgian ambassador did a good thing and tried to apologise to Shabour. When he did not get a response he went to the team's club and apologised and he won the hearts of the club members. I respect the ambassador because the situation was not his fault. Sadly, the German ambassador did not try to rectify his actions. This is why we have ambassadors that have won a place in our hearts and others who will not hold a place in the hearts of the Egyptians and will not be remembered by us at all. A few years ago I wrote a letter to all the ambassadors of countries with which we have archaeological relations. I said that if we send Egyptian officials from the SCA to your country on business and you charge for a visa, then we will treat you in the same way. We are doing this now. There are countries that could not waive the visa fee, such as the United States, but instead they have given the SCA 12 fellowships a year. I call on everyone to understand that it is only fair to deal with each other equally. Rules are rules. We do not want them to waive the rules for us but we do ask that they keep the rules equal for everybody. We cannot continue to treat foreigners with love and generosity if they in return treat us insincerely and do not care, from now on: one to one.
