Jordan awaiting official response from Canadian government over Dead Sea ScrollsBackground here. Previous reports made it sound as though the Canadian Government had already replied negatively.
By Khetam Malkawi (Jordan Times)
AMMAN - Jordan has not received an official response from Canada regarding a request to seize the Dead Sea Scrolls that were displayed at a museum in Toronto until Sunday, a senior official said.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Maha Khatib was responding to news published in some news websites that the Canadian government has announced it will not act upon Amman’s request to seize the two-millennia-old scrolls. The Kingdom will not respond until receiving an official response, the official said.
According to Khatib, the government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has requested Canada to take custody of the scrolls, citing the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, to which both Jordan and Canada are signatories.
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I can see why they would not be anxious to get involved in this. I'm not qualified to comment on the international-law issues, but I think it's safe to say that if Canada were agree to seize the Scrolls, Canadian museums would suddenly find it exceedingly difficult to persuade any other country to lend them anything.
