Sorry, you shouldn't be head of UNESCO....

He thinks a simple apology will get him the job....

Doubts still surround the prospects for Egypt's candidate to lead Unesco, the UN's cultural arm, despite his public apology for past anti-Israeli remarks.

Farouk Hosny, who is Egypt's culture minister, expressed "solemn regret" over a May 2008 pledge to burn Israeli books in Egyptian libraries.

Israel withdrew its protest about Mr Hosny's candidature following a request from Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak.

But Jewish European cultural groups continued to object to the candidacy.

Opponents of Mr Hosny's candidature have cited his response to a question in parliament in May 2008 from an opposition MP about whether Israeli books were held by the new library in Alexandria.

He said: "Burn these books; if there are any there, I will myself burn them in front of you."

Writing in the French newspaper Le Monde on Wednesday, Mr Hosny said: "I want to solemnly say that I regret the words that I used."

"I am a man of peace. I know that peace comes through understanding and respect. In the name of these values I want to go back on the words that I used, which were taken as an appeal to burn Hebrew books."

Oh yes....a man of peace!