H.E. Koichiro Matsuura Director-General UNESCO Place de Fontenoy Paris 75007 FRANCE Subject: To retrieve copies of the civil and religious registers and archives of our community. June 4, 2008 Dear Mr. Director-General, The Historical Society of Jews From Egypt (HSJE) is an organization representing a worldwide Diaspora of Jews exiled from Egypt since the 1950's, now numbering close to half a million individuals. We have noted the communiqué of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre questioning the worthiness of Egyptian Culture Minister, Farouk Hosni, as a candidate for the next Director-General of your eminent organization. We feel that this has provided Mr. Hosni a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate his generosity to civilization and to cultures, as also his rejection of anti-Semitism. Our registries and archives held in Cairo and Alexandria represent our history and acknowledge our identity as Jews originally from Egypt. All of our attempts over the past decade; to get access from the Egyptian authorities to photocopy these documents at our own cost, have failed. We therefore request that UNESCO take custody of this "intangible heritage" of the Jews from Egypt, by negotiating with Mr. Hosni on our behalf to photocopy our registers and archives in Egypt and then to hold these copies under UNESCO World Heritage protection. We are confident that in this manner, Minister Hosni will prove his good faith by responding to our call as Jews from Egypt and simultaneously show his commitment to the principles of UNESCO. We understand Mr. Hosni is due to visit France mid-June and would appreciate, Mr.Director-General, your efforts in resolving this matter by obtaining his formal agreement to our prompt access. Respectfully yours; Desire L. Sakkal CC: Minister of Culture, Mr. Farouk Hosni, Cairo, Egypt

 
  

HONORARY CHAIRMAN

Rabbi Shimon H. Alouf

 Honorees

Ada Aharoni Phd.

 Founders

Desire Leon Sakkal President

Victor D. Sanua Ph.D. vice-President

Joseph E. Mosseri  Secretary

Menahem Y. Mizrahi Ph.D Treasurer

Elie M. Mosseri

Nissim C. Sabban

 

Executive Board

Elie F. Fteha M.D                      President

Jacques H. Douek               vice-President

Joseph E. Mosseri                     Secretary

Matthew Salmon                      Treasurer

Dessire L. Sakkal                        Director

 

Committees:

Israel Bonan                          Chairman of Justice and Restitution

Regional Offices

 Ada Aharoni Phd.

President of IFLAC. The International Forum for the Culture of Peace (Haifa, Israel)

 Samuel J. Cohen

Tel Aviv Israel

 Alain Bigio

Sao Paulo, Brazil

 Joseph Barda

Sidney Australia

 
  

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF JEWS FROM EGYPT

 
 

P.O BOX 230445 BROOKLYN, NY 11223

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

H.E. Koichiro Matsuura Director-General UNESCO Place de Fontenoy Paris 75007 FRANCE Subject: To retrieve copies of the civil and religious registers and archives of our community. June 4, 2008 Dear Mr. Director-General, The Historical Society of Jews From Egypt (HSJE) is an organization representing a worldwide Diaspora of Jews exiled from Egypt since the 1950's, now numbering close to half a million individuals. We have noted the communiqué of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre questioning the worthiness of Egyptian Culture Minister, Farouk Hosni, as a candidate for the next Director-General of your eminent organization. We feel that this has provided Mr. Hosni a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate his generosity to civilization and to cultures, as also his rejection of anti-Semitism. Our registries and archives held in Cairo and Alexandria represent our history and acknowledge our identity as Jews originally from Egypt. All of our attempts over the past decade; to get access from the Egyptian authorities to photocopy these documents at our own cost, have failed. We therefore request that UNESCO take custody of this "intangible heritage" of the Jews from Egypt, by negotiating with Mr. Hosni on our behalf to photocopy our registers and archives in Egypt and then to hold these copies under UNESCO World Heritage protection. We are confident that in this manner, Minister Hosni will prove his good faith by responding to our call as Jews from Egypt and simultaneously show his commitment to the principles of UNESCO. We understand Mr. Hosni is due to visit France mid-June and would appreciate, Mr.Director-General, your efforts in resolving this matter by obtaining his formal agreement to our prompt access. Respectfully yours; Desire L. Sakkal CC: Minister of Culture, Mr. Farouk Hosni, Cairo, Egypt

 
  
  
  

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF JEWS FROM EGYPT, a nonprofit organization, with a provisional charter from the Board of Regents of the State of New York.

 
 
  

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF JEWS FROM EGYPT, a nonprofit organization, with a provisional charter from the Board of Regents of the State of New York.