Arabic press review: Egyptians hope for easy riches, search for treasure

Saudi Arabia opens its borders with Qatar to pilgrims

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul Aziz has issued orders to allow all Qatari citizens, who wishing to carry out their pilgrimage by traveling through the Salwa border crossing, to do so without asking for electronic permits, according to the Saudi daily newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.      

The royal order also included a decision to transport all Qatari pilgrims from Saudi airports, which are close to the land border to Mecca, by air since they are guests who intend to perform the Hajj.

Qatar plans to expand its overseas investments

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has confirmed that will expand its investments around the world and denies any plans to liquidate its investment assets, according to a statement from Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani reported in the Qatari newspaper Al-Sharq.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) said that large investments will be announced in the next few days. It stressed that the siege imposed on the the state by three Gulf countries and Egypt has not affected its investments, adding: “We have just completed a tour of several countries around the world and you will hear about significant investments soon.”

Jordan says Jerusalem is political, nothing to do with security

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has said that the Jerusalem is a political issue and not one of security, as Israel maintains.

He stressed that Jordan will continue making all possible efforts to defend Islamic and Christian holy places in Jerusalem and to preserve the historical and legal situation in the city, according to the Jordanian newspaper Ad-Dustour.

The king met with representatives of the Holy City and addressed them saying: “I salute your incessant and constant steadfastness in defending Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has not been only limited to the recent crisis,” according to the newspaper.

Egyptians search for wealth underground

Random searches of underground monuments are being carried out in Egypt by ordinary people who dream of getting rich quickly. But these archaeological excavations threaten the history and civilization of the country, according to a report published on the Arabic website Noon Post.

The market for antiquities is Egypt’s largest in terms of volume, exceeding $20 billion annually, according to the report.

The website also reported that in April 2016, an attempt to smuggle 9,000 artifacts out of Egypt, which was thwarted by a gold trader in Cairo, was the biggest operation of its kind in recent decades, revealing the size of Egypt’s black market for smuggling.