As part of the development in Arab countries, especially the Gulf countries, it became possible to put international paintings in the museums with no fear or worries. Arab museums today possess personnel that take care of monumental pieces and international paintings. They are well experienced and highly accurate in preserving these precious treasures from damage or misuse. Also, they came to possess advanced laser monitoring and protection systems to protect these precious objects and paintings. Thus, I think that, after exerting all these efforts, the Arab world has come to have some museums that we do not have to worry about, in terms of putting nice paintings there, and we can let the admirers and specialists come to these museums to enjoy these well-known international paintings.

There are paintings and works of art of very famous Western artists which Arab museums are supposed to keep a part of them or purchase them with their very high value in order to attract tourists. However, we still do not notice this step till today because of many reasons. Indeed, these paintings are extremely expensive and their exposure to theft or damage is catastrophic and should not happen. In European museums, these paintings are highly taken care of because experts there and people who are in charge raise the value of these international paintings which attract tourists from all over the world to enjoy fine art represented in the mixture of colors and the drawing of these beautiful paintings. In fact, the Arab museums staffs that are responsible for these museums are neither qualified nor experienced. Thus, there is a lot of worry to bring these paintings to the Arab museums in fear of being damaged because of the ignorance of those who are in charge. In addition, paintings may lose their artistic side together with their material values which can’t be replaced as they are international famous paintings.

Museums in Arab countries suffer a great deal. Meanwhile, these museums are very neglected. In our Arab countries we frankly don't give any importance to museums in terms of providing full security and installing alarm systems that would prevent the theft of artworks, paintings and precious and priceless artifacts. Therefore, we need to change this reality and work with the same responsibility that European countries secure for international museums, so that Arab museums can earn respect and a good reputation. In this respect, there are many museums that experience the theft of precious masterpieces. Most theft incidents take place due to slack security measures, which are not sufficient to prevent theft.

A few days ago, a strange and sad incident occurred. One of the famous paintings was stolen from one of the Egyptian museums. It's called the "Poppy Flowers," painted by the artist Van Gogh. This is a sad thing that raises the doubts of observers and those interested in international arts. The theft of such an interesting painting in this barbarian way, as announced by the police and investigators in Egypt, proves that the security measures taken in this museum don't meet the expectations, together with the negligence of the museum’s administration and its security system. The theft of this painting, and the success of the thief to run away without being detected by the cameras or the alarm systems, indicate that there is a severe deficiency, and that the museum administration and workers do not know how to protect such an internationally famous painting. That's why they must be punished, and we must work on the development of the security system in the museums. And we should benefit from the experiences of the developed countries in the way they secure their museums and keep control over things, and consequently ensure a safe display of these internationally valuable paintings. We only have to admit that our Arab museums are suffering from negligence and are unable to meet the expectations of those who are interested in history, and those who find their paths only through what is displayed in these museums. Most of the buildings that are made to be museums are considered unsuitable in terms of design and outward appearance. They are also considered old-fashioned, compared to the international museums. Moreover, the Arab nation lacks a museum culture and does not know the importance of what is inside them. That ignorance is not limited to citizens, but it has spread to those engaged in these museums, because they are not keen on the protection and maintenance of the archaeological artifacts, whether from the Arab world or whether they are the international paintings that are in these museums. That's why many cases of theft occur in museums, and many of the Arab world’s paintings are often damaged, because of the negligence in dealing with them by those responsible for the museums.

Many Arab museums lack the attention of the people who are responsible for them. They do not know how to preserve the cultural heritage. The paintings created by many famous international artists can't be preserved in Arab museums, because of the limited support for these museums from the Arab governments. Besides, the managers of these museums are ignorant and don't know the material value of these paintings, in addition to the poor performance of the security systems in these museums. Consequently, we believe that Arab museums are not worthy of preserving world paintings, because they don't measure up to international museum standards in terms of service or preservation of the paintings.

In the Arab world, there are no museums that are able to protect the famous Western artists' paintings. This is due to the fact that the various problems, the wars and the lack of mutual understanding between Arabs don't give them time to think about such things. Moreover, many Arab museums don't have the appropriate conditions needed to preserve such international paintings. The latter need to be kept in an appropriate environment conditions, in terms of heat, cold and humidity. These standards are unavailable in most Arab museums. That's why none of them is suitable for preserving these world paintings. In addition, the weakness of the security system of the Arab museums and their inability to protect world paintings that cost millions of dollars is another cause behind the failure of the Arab museums to protect them. Moreover, the Arab governments neglect the museums, and the Arabs are unable to take care of their monuments and paintings. As a result, they are stolen and smuggled out. So, are they able to preserve world paintings that are targeted by most mafias? This is impossible. Thus, the Arab museums are unable to preserve international monuments and paintings in the Arab countries, because of the weakness of the security system’s performance.

Why did they steal this valuable painting? Wasn’t there enough surveillance? Even if someone builds a simple house, he is aware that a thief might come and steal a piece of wood or an iron bar. Why should there be such severe negligence? Whoever is in charge of protecting these paintings should be arrested, even if he is a soldier, an officer, or even a Minister. Even if they restore the painting, they should not escape being brought to court. God is sufficient. He is the best supporter against any treacherous hand in this country.

Stealing this painting is considered a gross negligence, and all officials deserve to be held accountable for securing these important properties. They should be sentenced to the severest punishment in order to set an example for other negligent officials...

Corruption has reached the bone. No one has any credibility anymore, no matter what his position is. This is a real disaster by all measures. This makes the unemployed youth more frustrated. Consequently, the movement that claims it belongs to Islam, as well as other movements, will employ all this corruption and frustration to serve their interests. They will use the youth against the government and the regime. The youth will then become like a time bomb. The real disaster that no one can recognize is the mobilization and massing of all this public discontent against President Mubarak and his sons. This is the real disaster. President Mubarak preserved the peace of his country as much as he could under complicated and very difficult international conditions. However, some people call for breaking up the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, under the pretext that, in a time of war, the youth used to find work. There was hope. Now, there is neither work nor hope! In other words, there is no social justice. There is a group that controlled the reins of the government. This talk and general climate generates hatred, spite, violence and terrorism. Therefore, the region will go back to the starting point and the time of pompous words that ruined our country in a previous stage. I mean words such as “Eiden the flunky,” “Husein bin Zein,” “Shredding the beard of King Faisal, may God have mercy on him,” “If America doesn’t like the Mediterranean, let it drink from the Red Sea,” and other foolish and pompous words that lost our country in a previous stage. The worst thing I fear is letting the youth in Egypt disbelieve in peace. The youth are more than half of Egypt’s population. Pray with me for peace. Fathi As-Shikh, journalist, founder of Peace Party, Alexandria, Egypt.