Arab culture in the hands of a pro Israeli
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Alwalid with Murdoch
CAIRO - The recent partnership between media magnate Rupert Murdoch and the Saudi Al-Walid Bin Talal has angered Egyptian cultural circles who fear that a part of Arab and Egyptian heritage fall into the hands of an avowed partisan of Israel.
- Al-Walid has sold 9.09% shares of its regional group entertainment, Rotana, the media giant News Corporation, Murdoch, an unusual alliance between a prince from an ultraconservative Islamic kingdom and a strong supporter of Israel.
In Egypt, where Rotana is one of the largest producers of film and has the rights and coils around 1,300 films, the partnership was seen as a "Trojan horse" for normalization with Israel, which rejects a majority of intelligentsia.
"The important is not the part sold by Al-Walid, because who has sold 9% may yield the remainder of the company," said the novelist Ezzat Qamhaoui.
"We are now facing the reality of the sale of Arab films and music to an investor" whose media empire is one of the causes of the erroneous image of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the West," he added.
Murdoch's mainstream media like Fox News in the U.S. and The Sun in Britain are often accused in the Middle East to be anti-Arab or pro-Israeli. Murdoch does not hide his outspoken support for Israel.
The partnership "is equivalent to a defeat for the film and Arab art heritage, for its part says the critic Ola al-Shafei. "Murdoch will enter every Arab’s house" to "impose normalization" with Israel, she says.
In the weekly Al-Yom Al-Sabee, scriptwriter Osama Anwar Okasha calls the market of "Trojan horse" pro-Israeli in the Arab cultural sphere.
The Egyptian state film company announced last week that it "will stop working with the Rotana company if it sells any part of the company to Murdoch.
The main Egyptian producers however have not responded yet.
For its part, the president of the College of artists, Ashraf Zaki told AFP have called for an urgent meeting with the chamber of the film industry to "take a position on the partnership.
Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement in 1979 and established normal diplomatic relations. But the standardization of cultural exchange is delayed, the government and a majority of Egyptian intellectuals linking this development to a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.
A source at Rotana, who wishes to remain anonymous, declined to respond on the issue of Murdoch's support for Israel, but hinted that the partnership would also perhaps help to change the views of Mr Murdoch on the Middle East.
"Rotana has maintained the Egyptian film heritage by restauring (the old copies) and in keeping with the latest technology," argued the source.
"We will benefit from the experience of this great company (News Corporation), and this partnership could also be an opportunity to change the view of the new partner in Rotana," added the source. - Ennaharonline/ M. O.
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