Background:
Dayr al-Sulṭān is a monastery located on top of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox community claims to be their heritage.
The rest of the tape consists of several interviews with employees of Dutch port business, Slavenburg & Huyser B.V. and the Alexandrian Port authority, who share their opinions on the relations between Alexandria and Rotterdam’s ports which were established in around 1985. Slavenburg & Huyser B.V. is a Dutch agent for most Egyptian lines, which works in collaboration with Egypt and aims to keep the Egyptians up to date about shipping to Rotterdam and the rest of the world.
The interviews are partly conducted in Dutch and partly conducted in English. Concerning the employee at Slavenburg & Huyser B.V., the man is interviewed in Dutch. Furthermore, both the Egyptian employee working at Alexandria Port Authority and the Coptic Orthodox priest answer the questions in English.
Side A:
On Easter Eve 1970, Dayr al-Sulṭān was occupied by Israeli Forces and handed over to Ethiopian authorities. When the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox community raised this to the Supreme Court of Israel, it was decided that the monastery of Dayr al-Sulṭān was owned by the Copts. Both the Ethiopian monks and the Minister of Police of Israel were condemned. Three years prior to the interview recording, it is said that Israel tried to escape the Dayr al-Sulṭān issue by suggesting that it be discussed by the two churches (Ethiopian and Coptic). The Copts refused because they believe it is their monastery and that the Israeli government took it by force, subsequently changed all the locks. Nevertheless, now that it has been handed to the Ethiopian Church, they want to keep the monastery as their own. The Coptic Orthodox priest believes that Dutch churches could help by means of supporting the Sunday Schools in Egypt and supplying them with papers and audio visuals. The priest argues that these materials are quite expensive, but that the audio visuals particularly in rural vilalges are very attractive.
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There have been a series of seminars, in which the different logistics companies come together and discuss a variety of subjects. The attempts on increasing participation to the seminars from other nations in the region such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Kuwait have been unsuccessful. However, the seminar scheduled to be held after this interview was conducted and was foreseen to attract a large audience. The subject of the seminar concerned “free zones”, which the employee of Slavenburg & Huyser B.V. argues to be extremely relevant for the Middle Eastern region. Speakers from all around the world, including Hong Kong, Korea, and Europe would attend this seminar, which in turn reflects the international character of the subject free zones. It is of great importance that these free zones be introduced to Egypt, for they are in engaged in developing bigger plans for a large-scale establishment of free zones in various ports in Egypt.
The Egyptian employee of Alexandria Port Authority argues that Alexandria is one of the most important ports in the Middle East. The development in Egypt in terms of privatisation and liberalisation, he says, will increase the trade activity exponentially. The Egyptian employee believes there is no doubt that Rotterdam is much more developed in terms of management than Alexandria. It is, therefore, that the establishment of relations between Alexandria and Rotterdam are of great use to Egypt as this means that Rotterdam can offer the assistance Egypt needs and share their expertise.
Romana Muṣṭafā Mūsā’s Comments:
The second half of the recording does not consist of an easy flow of conversation because it is an interview made for radio journalism. Therefore, the interviewees may have tendencies of restating their words to make them sound more fluent for prospective soundbites to be broadcasted on the radio.
