Gaza’s archaeological heritage was destroyed in Israel’s genocide. These volunteers are trying to salvage it from the rubble: Israeli forces systematically and deliberately targeted many of Gaza’s archaeological sites, including ancient churches. Before the war, Gaza was home to archaeological sites and artifacts from periods spanning more than 5,000 years of continuous human civilization. Some looted artifacts have quietly resurfaced in a Paris exhibition

contact@ifamericansknew.org  

August 31, 2026  

Archaeology destroyed,  

destruction in gaza,  

israeli apartheid,  

khan younis,  

violation of international law

Tareq S. Hajjaj, reposted from Mondoweiss, August 31, 2026

MEMBERS OF THE HERITAGE GUARDIANS VOLUNTEER TEAM, AFFILIATED WITH THE MAYASEM ASSOCIATION FOR CULTURE AND THE ARTS, EXAMINE AND DOCUMENT HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS RECOVERED FROM BENEATH THE RUBBLE IN GAZA, KHAN YOUNIS, JUNE, 2026.(PHOTO: YOUSEF ABADLA)

Salvaged artifacts by the Mayasem Association for Culture and the Arts, Khan Younis, Gaza, June, 2026.(Photo: Yousef Abadla) (Anadolu Ajansi)

In the rubble of a bombed site in Khan Younis, a group of volunteers in yellow high-visibility vests work in near silence.

They have no tools but their hands, relentless determination, and the knowledge that what lies beneath the debris is irreplaceable. Carefully, they lift carved stone fragments and pottery vessels by hand, wrap ceramic pieces in whatever protective material they can find, and admire ancient statues, shattered on the ground, dating back thousands of years.

The volunteers are part of the Heritage Guardians Team, an initiative affiliated with the Mayasem Association for Culture and Arts. Although Israeli shelling never stopped rocking Gaza, they’ve been trying — carefully, methodically, and with bare hands — to save what remains of the Strip’s archaeological heritage before it disappears entirely under the rubble. 

According to Hamouda al-Dahdar, director of the Department of Archaeological Sites and Excavations at Gaza’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Israeli forces systematically and deliberately targeted many of Gaza’s archaeological sites, most of which had remained closed throughout the war. “They were attacked without any apparent military justification,” he told Mondoweiss.

Before the war, the Gaza Strip was home to archaeological sites and artifacts from periods spanning more than 5,000 years of continuous human civilization. Nearly every part of the territory contained an archaeological site or historical remains, while five major museums preserved the vast majority of artifacts unearthed across Gaza.

But the ongoing genocide has left virtually nothing untouched. Beyond the destruction of homes, civilian infrastructure, and the killing of tens of thousands of civilians, the war has also devastated archaeological sites and artifacts painstakingly excavated and preserved over decades. Many have also been taken out of Gaza, in what the Strip’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities regards as theft....READ MORE  https://israelpalestinenews.org/gazas-archaeological-heritage-was-destroyed-in-israels-genocide-these-volunteers-are-trying-to-salvage-it-from-the-rubble/

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‘One of the oldest urban centres on the planet’: Gaza’s rich history in ruins. The territory’s ancient heritage has too often been ignored. As we mourn incalculable human losses, learning about its past can help us better understand the present- William Dalrymple in The Guardian

The bombed-out Great Mosque of Gaza, once a crusader church, in January 2024. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

William Dalrymple

Fri 17 Oct 2025

"As a ceasefire brings a measure of peace to the Dresden-like hellscape that Gaza has become, it is time to take stock of all that has been lost. The human cost of what the UN commission of inquiry recognises as a genocide is of course incalculable, but fewer are aware of how much rich history and archaeology has also been destroyed in these horrific months. This is bolstered by the widespread assumption that Gaza was little more than a huge refugee camp built on a recently settled portion of desert. That is quite wrong. In reality Gaza it is one of the oldest urban centres on the planet.

Golda Meir famously declared that “there was no such thing as Palestinians”, but the reality is very different. Palestine is actually one of humanity’s oldest toponyms, and records of a people named after it are as old as literacy itself. Palestine was an established name for the coast between Egypt and Phoenicia since at least the second millennium BCE: the ancient Egyptian texts refer to “Peleset” from about 1450BCE, Assyrians inscriptions to the “Palashtu” c800BCE, and Herodotus c480BCE to “Παλαιστίνη” (Palaistinē). This was all brought home to me as I worked, with my co-presenter Anita Anand, on a 12-part series on Gaza’s history for the Empire podcast.

Gaza was first referenced as a strategic prize in an Egyptian inscription of Thutmose III in the 15th century BCE, where it is referred to as Ghazzati. It is also one of the most fought-over and contested spaces: for more than 4,000 years this area has been an ethnically mixed crossroads, linking Africa with Asia, and the desert with the Mediterranean. It has also been a crucial strategic and economic hub: an often incredibly rich and prosperous port from which the spices, incense, perfumes and wines of western Asia were exported to Greece and Rome, the end of the caravan route from Arabia via Petra. As well as a fortress guarding the strategically crucial route leading from the eastern Mediterranean coastline to Egypt.

Travellers who visited Gaza over the centuries have often remarked on the fecundity of its vegetation and the diversity of its agriculture, both of which are the products of its underground waters and the Mediterranean climate. It is this that enabled Gaza to grow the excellent grapes that for many centuries were made into a much celebrated sweet wine, the Château d’Yquem of the classical world. An exhibition of the salvaged antiquities of Gaza currently showing at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris opens with a fabulous display of the distinctive “torpedo jars” in which the Gazans exported their wine. As late as the sixth century AD, these amphorae were reaching both Merovingian France and Anglo-Saxon England..." READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/17/one-of-the-oldest-urban-centres-on-the-planet-gazas-rich-history-in-ruins

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Empire: The History of Gaza, PODCAST presented by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, is available online https://www.playpodcast.net/podcast/empire/

‘Tunnel vision’: how Israel is using archaeology to win US support for goals- Scientists say Netanyahu government and its US backers are trying to construct a history shorn of all complexity

 "The settler group Elad, which established the City of David archaeological site on expropriated Palestinian land in the Silwan district, has presented the road as the route taken by Jews to the temple during the lifetime of Jesus Christ.

The enterprise was declared illegal by the UN as it was built on occupied territory as part of a broader effort to dispossess Palestinians, and a UN commission of inquiry last year denounced its use of archaeology for political ends.

“Despite its rich, heterogeneous history, the narrative presented at the City of David site focuses only on the site’s Jewish history … disregarding all other periods and cultures,” the commission said.

Alon Arad, the head of an independent group of archaeologists, Emek Shaveh, pointed out that the “Pilgrimage Road” tunnel had already been opened once before, in Donald Trump’s first term, by his first ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, using a sledgehammer to break down a wall in 2019.

“This whole festival now is completely bizarre,” Arad said. “The fact that the settlers and the evangelists and other rightwing Americans found each other a perfect match is not news. But this ceremony is just bad archaeology and another proof that the whole City of David archaeological park project has nothing to do with either archaeology or heritage.”

A large stone stepped structure on the site has been claimed by some archaeologists as the biblical City of David, but the claim is hotly disputed. Arad also accuses the Elad organisation of using discredited methods

“Archaeologists stopped digging in tunnels at the beginning of the 20th century,” he said. “The fact that they are excavating in tunnels under people’s houses without their permission makes this whole thing bad archaeology. Once you excavate in a tunnel, you have a very narrow perspective. This whole branding of the Pilgrimage Road is an attempt to Judaise the entire heritage of this region. It is the best example of the term ‘tunnel vision’.” "

Julian Borger in Jerusalem

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/25/israel-archaeology-jerusalem-history-us 

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Destruction and Appropriation of Palestinian Heritage .... Palestine & UNESCO Protecting heritage and reasserting sovereignty : The first installment of a two-part policy brief from Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.

The Palestinian flag is raised alongside the UNESCO flag for the
first time, at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in Dec. 2011.
(Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images)

PART 1

Palestine & UNESCO: Protecting heritage and reasserting sovereignty

PART 2

Palestine & UNESCO: The national duty to protect cultural heritage 

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=647681

Destruction and Appropriation of Palestinian Heritage

For almost a century, Palestinian cultural heritage located in what is today Palestine and Israel has been subjected to destruction and appropriation by different administrations. Since 1967, Israel has damaged and destroyed historical, cultural, religious and natural sites throughout the OPT. Immediately after the occupation, Israeli authorities razed the Moroccan Quarter in the old city of Jerusalem and seized historical and religious buildings, such as the Palestine Archaeological Museum (now known as the Rockefeller Museum).

Since its illegal annexation of East Jerusalem, which is not recognized by any other country, Israel has subjected the city's cultural heritage to its national legislation. Ongoing archaeological projects include the "City of David" park, located in East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood. In October 2011, the Israeli High Court ignored Israel’s obligations under UNESCO treaties and protocols and deemed the archaeological works as consistent with Israel's domestic law.

An equally shocking example is the Simon Wiesenthal Center's construction of the Museum of Tolerance in West Jerusalem, which entailed excavations at the ancient Mamilla Cemetery with hundreds of exhumations of graves and remains. Dating from the 7th century, the cemetery was designated as an antiquities site in 1944 by the British Mandate authorities. The excavations continue in violation of Israel’s obligations under the 1972 UNESCO’s World Natural and Cultural Heritage Convention and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The US Center for Constitutional Rights has filed a petition to U.N. bodies and the Swiss government on behalf of Palestinian descendants of those buried at the Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem.

In the West Bank, Israeli military operations in the Old City of Nablus in 2002 resulted in extensive damage of cultural heritage, including structures dating to the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman eras. Some have argued that the 2002 Israeli military attack of the Church of the Nativity was a war crime. Israel has, in addition, used archaeology as a pretext to forcibly transfer Palestinian residents, demolish villages and gain territorial control over Palestinian land to further its illegal settlement project and exploit the OPT’s natural resources.

There is a strong argument that each of these cases violates Israel's legal obligations as a party to the 1954 Hague Convention and its First Protocol, as well as its obligations under other international laws. Even the US State Department 2009 religious freedom report notes the discriminatory nature of Israel's policy in protecting and funding only Jewish holy sites while neglecting many Muslim and Christian sites, many of which are "threatened by property developers and municipalities." However, to date, Israel's legal obligations have not been enforced.

 READ ARTICLE IN FULL

 http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=647681

A Palestinian holds his national flag in front of the Nativity Church in
Bethlehem, Palestine's first listed World Heritage Site. (Ammar Awad)

Palestine & UNESCO: Protecting heritage and reasserting sovereignty

By Al-Shabaka

The first installment of a two-part policy brief from Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.

Al-Shabaka is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination within the framework of international law.

The policy brief is co-authored by Valentina Azarov and Nidal Sliman.

Overview

Palestine gained membership of UNESCO in 2011 but its representatives have not yet made best use of this new status due in part to pressure by Israel and the United States. Al-Shabaka Policy Member Nidal Sliman and Guest Author Valentina Azarov review the value of UNESCO in the quest to fulfill Palestinian rights and to apply the relevant international law instruments to the case of Palestine.

They make a compelling argument that Palestine can gain significant practical advantages from its UNESCO membership, including reasserting sovereignty over its land and sea and obliging third states to hold Israel accountable for its obligations.

Why UNESCO Membership Is Important...READ MORE

PART 1

Palestine & UNESCO: Protecting heritage and reasserting sovereignty

PART 2

Palestine & UNESCO: The national duty to protect cultural heritage 

Anger That a Herod Show Uses West Bank Objects

The exhibition “Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey” includes a reconstruction of his tomb, with his sarcophagus, center. Jim Hollander/European Pressphoto Agency

"Hamdan Taha, director of the Palestinian Authority’s department of antiquities and cultural heritage, said that while Oslo provides for Israel’s excavation in the West Bank, exhibiting the material was another story. He complained that the Palestinians were never consulted about the project, which he called “an aggression against Palestinian cultural rights in their own land,” and said it would “not help to reconstruct peace between the Palestinians and Israel.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/world/middleeast/israel-museums-herod-show-draws-anger-over-use-of-west-bank-objects.html?ref=global-home

By JODI RUDOREN
Published: February 13, 2013

JERUSALEM — In one room sits a sarcophagus of reddish-pink limestone believed to have held the body of King Herod, painstakingly reconstructed after having been smashed to bits centuries ago. In another, there are frescoes from Herod’s elaborate underground palace, pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. Throughout, elaborate animated videos show the king’s audacious construction — atop the desert fortress Masada; at his burial place, Herodium; and his most famous work, the Second Temple of Jerusalem.

The Israel Museum on Tuesday opened its most ambitious archaeological exhibition and the world’s first devoted to Herod, the lionized and demonized Rome-appointed king of Judea, who reigned from 37 to 4 B.C.E. and is among the most seminal and contentious figures in Jewish history. But the exhibition, which the museum director described as a “massive enterprise” that involved sifting through 30 tons of material from Herodium and reconstructing 250 artifacts, has also brought its own bit of controversy.

The Palestinian Authority says the exhibition is a violation of international law because much of its material was taken from near Bethlehem and Jericho, both in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. An Israeli group of archaeologists and activists complains that the museum, however unwittingly, is helping the Jewish settlement movement advance its contention that the West Bank should be part of Israel and not a Palestinian state. 

“What the Israel Museum is doing is like coming and saying, ‘Listen, the heritage of the West Bank is part of our heritage first of all,’ ” said Yonathan Mizrachi, an archaeologist who helped found the Israeli group, Emek Shaveh, in 2009. “It’s part of the idea to create the narrative that those sites, no matter what the political solution,” are “part of the Israeli identity.” ....READ MORE

Museum exhibit becomes front in Israeli-Palestinian struggle

Uriel Sinai/Getty Images - A museum worker does preparatory work before the opening of the "Herod the Great" exhibition, at the Israel Museum this week in Jerusalem.

 “The museum can grant legitimacy to the occupation this way, by presenting this as part of Israeli and Jewish heritage... The message is: This past is ours.” Yonathan Mizrachi, an Israeli archeologist with Emek Shaveh, a group that focuses on the role of archaeology in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/museum-exhibit-becomes-front-in-israeli-palestinian-struggle/2013/02/13/dca47284-7614-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story.html

By Joel Greenberg, Published: February 13

JERUSALEM — A major exhibit at Israel’s national museum that is devoted to Herod the Great, the Roman-era king of Judea, has become the latest front in a struggle between Israelis and Palestinians over cultural heritage.

The show is billed as the most ambitious and expensive archaeological exhibition put on by the Israel Museum outside of its permanent collections, and its centerpiece is a partial reconstruction of what is believed to be the king’s tomb at Herodium, a hilltop palace-fortress south of Jerusalem in the West Bank.

On display are some 30 tons of material from the site, including masonry from the tomb structure and a reconstructed sarcophagus thought to have held the king’s remains, along with frescoes and mosaics restored by the museum staff, a massive royal bathtub and other finds excavated in Jerusalem and at desert palaces in Jericho and ancient Cypros, also in the West Bank.

The exhibit, which opened to the public Wednesday and is scheduled to run for eight months, has drawn criticism from Palestinian officials. They charge that the removal of the ancient artifacts to Israel violates international law and appropriates cultural property that should remain in the West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as part of a future state

Maintained by Israel as a national park, Herodium is in Area C, the part of the West Bank that remains under full Israeli control and where excavations are supervised by the Israeli military administration. ...READ MORE

Rising From Ruins: Even as Israel neglects a major archaeological site in the West Bank, it is preventing the Palestinian Authority from tending to it.

"The Oslo Accords list Sebastia among the archeological sites of importance to Israel, yet Israel is not taking care of the place, arguably one of the most important set of ruins in the West Bank. Nor is it allowing the Palestinian Authority to do so. And even though USAID-supported renovation work is taking place in the village, supposedly to improve the ailing Palestinian economy by encouraging tourism in the West Bank, the international community has done nothing to oppose Israeli actions that impede tourism (and are contrary to international law)." RAJA SHEHADEH in the NYTimes

Signs outside a village in the West Bank identical to those at the entrance of Sebastia. Photo credit Bassam Almohor

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http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/ruins-in-the-west-bank-are-another-victim-of-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict/

'Herod the Great' show causes row over artifacts

A general view of Herodion, near Bethlehem.(MaanImages/file)

13/02/2013

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 http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=564808

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- The first major museum exhibition on the divisive biblical figure of Herod the Great has provoked a modern-day row between Israel and the Palestinians over who has the right to dig up his artifacts.

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Tuesday unveiled a display dedicated to Herod - branded a baby-killer in the Christian tradition but remembered by many in Israel for rebuilding a Jewish Temple two millennia ago.

Palestinian Authority officials have complained many of the exhibits were taken from the West Bank, under Israeli military occupation since 1967.

The show includes busts and statues of figures from the period when the Romans occupied the Holy Land and appointed Herod the monarch of Judea.

The highlight is a reconstruction of part of Herod's mausoleum housing what experts believe is his sarcophagus.

Palestinians said the artifacts were removed without their consent from Herodion, the builder-king's excavated palace on an arid hilltop near Bethlehem.

The Palestinian Authority minister of tourism and antiquities, Rula Maayah, told Reuters all Israeli archaeological activities in the West Bank were illegal.

"Many dig locations (in the Palestinian territories) fall under Israeli control ... and we are unable to reach them. All the work at digs in the occupied territories are against the law, but Israel carries them out and even if they don't dig themselves they don't allow us to do so," she said.

Israel Museum director James Snyder said archaeological digs on occupied Palestinian territories were carried out according to international conventions and protocols laid down in interim Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.

Snyder said he was unaware of any discussions with Palestinian archaeological officials over the exhibit and there had been no way to study the artifacts properly on site at Herodion.

The relics, he said, would eventually be returned to Herodion once proper facilities to house them were in place.

In the Christian story, Herod ordered his men to kill all baby boys in and around Jesus' birthplace Bethlehem, fearing one would grow up to become "King of the Jews" and challenge his rule.

According to The Gospel of Matthew, Jesus and his family escaped the slaughter by fleeing to Egypt.

Historians said Herod ruled Judea from about 37 BC until his death in 4 BC - four years before Jesus' official birth day, though that date is also contested.

Ma'an staff contributed to this report

********* 

Visitor Information Center .... Ancient King Herod’s Palace is visible from Bethlehem: It is located in the Judean desert, 6 km to the south east of Bethlehem

Ruins of Herodium Seen from Above

MAP of Greater Jerusalem, May 2006. United States. Central Intelligence Agency: Shows settlements, refugee camps, fences, walls, etc.

"Herod the Great" show in Israel angers Palestinians

A man walks near sarcophagi during a media preview of an exhibition titled "Herod the Great: The King's Final Journey" at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

A woman looks at archaeological artifacts during a media preview of an exhibition titled "Herod the Great: The King's Final Journey" at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Museum employees prepare an exhibition titled "Herod the Great: The King's Final Journey" at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem February 12, 2013.  REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

People arrive to a media preview of an exhibition titled "Herod the Great: The King's Final Journey" at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/12/us-israel-archaeology-herod-idUSBRE91B1G220130212

By Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM | Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:22pm EST
 

(Reuters) - The first major museum exhibition on the divisive biblical figure of Herod the Great has provoked a modern-day row between Israel and the Palestinians over who has the right to dig up his artefacts.

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Tuesday unveiled a display dedicated to Herod - branded a baby-killer in the Christian tradition but remembered by many in Israel for rebuilding the Jewish Temple two millennia ago.

 

 

Palestinians have complained many of the exhibits were taken from the occupied West Bank, land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians seek as part of a future state.
The show includes busts and statues of figures from the period when the Romans occupied the Holy Land and appointed Herod the monarch of Judea.

The highlight is a reconstruction of part of Herod's mausoleum housing what experts believe is his sarcophagus.

Palestinians said the artefacts were removed without their consent from Herodium, the builder-king's excavated palace on an arid hilltop a short drive from Jerusalem.

The Palestinian minister of tourism and antiquities, Rula Ma'ayah, told Reuters all Israeli archaeological activities in the West Bank were illegal.

"Many dig locations (in the Palestinian territories) fall under Israeli control ... and we are unable to reach them. All the work at digs in the occupied territories are against the law, but Israel carries them out and even if they don't dig themselves they don't allow us to do so," he said....READ MORE

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Israel unveils Herod's archaeological treasures: Herod's mausoleum headlines Israel's most ambitious archaeological show but Palestinians say treasures should stay where they were found

A stone sculpture of the Roman emperor Augustus, who ruled at the time of Herod the Great – part of the Israel Museum exhibition. Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/12/israel-archaeological-exhibition-herod-the-great

"The show has met with opposition from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which says Israel is in breach of international law by exhibiting artefacts excavated and removed from the West Bank.

Hamdan Taha, a PA official responsible for antiquities, said the Israel Museum had not consulted it on the excavation and exhibition. Herodium is located in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli control, and the site is administered by the Israeli Parks Authority.

The exhibition was an attempt to use "archaeology to justify Israel's political claims on the land", Taha said. The site, along with Jericho, was "an integral part of Palestinian cultural heritage", he added."...READ MORE

This Week in Palestine: Archaeology

The State of Archaeology

 Message from the Editor

I would like to start by saluting Palestinian people everywhere for the resilience, willpower, patience, and strength that we’ve shown throughout the struggle. Our resistance continues and we proceed, coming up with innovative ways to overcome the Israeli occupation. From the new village of Bab El-Shams (Gate to the Sun) to the destroyed village of Iqrit and those villages under threat, Palestinians just won’t stop. Despite the brutality and vulgarity of the occupation, and the many losses incurred by our families, we refuse to give up. We continue to stand up and fight for our rights, for justice, for freedom, and for our homeland, Palestine.

Archaeology is one of the many tactics Israel uses to claim ground in Palestine. Many historical sites have been exploited to benefit the Jewish narrative. I’ve never heard a Palestinian deny a Jewish presence in Palestine, the place that joins Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. But for some reason, Israel constantly has the need to prove its “right” to Palestine and use archaeology to claim more land. On the other hand, Palestinian involvement in archaeology has been very limited, with efforts starting only relatively recently.

Thus, in this edition of This Week in Palestine, we decided to compile and document as much available information as possible about archaeology from a Palestinian perspective. In your hands is a useful resource that investigates “The Case of Archaeology” in Palestine. With an introduction from Hamdan Taha, the issue unfolds with contributions from Basem Ra’ad, Ali Qleibo, Iman Saca, Moain Sadeq, and Nazmi Jubeh, all of whom work in the field of archaeology as professors and researchers. We also highlight the accomplishments of archaeologists Dimitri Baramki and Tawfiq Canaan, two Palestinians who have made tremendous contributions to the field.

Look out for personal accounts from Hakam Shahwan and Yasmeen El-Khoudary that illustrate the way archaeology is employed to serve Israel’s national politics. Read through the issue carefully, it may lead to your own discoveries. After such a heavy issue, we look forward to warming your hearts with some Palestinian humour, the theme for next month. For now, I leave you in an archaeological mystery, with thanks to the authors, who have made this issue possible, and the entire team of This Week in Palestine.

Manar Harb
Content Editor

Two Decades of Archaeology in Palestine* By Hamdan Taha   Palestinian Ethnographic Archaeology By Ali Qleibo   Toward a Real Archaeology and History of Palestine By Basem L. Ra’ad   Community Archaeology A Fitting Approach to Doing Archaeology in Palestine By Iman Saca   The History and Archaeology of Gaza before Islam A Short Account By Moain Sadeq   Jerusalem: The State of Archaeology By Nazmi Jubeh   Dimitri C. Baramki 1909–1984 TWIP Collective

Artist of the Month ‘Ali Wazwaz   Book of the Month Nablus, City of Civilizations   Exhibition of the Month Outsiders   Personality of the Month Tawfiq Canaan   Picturesque Palestine Picturesque Palestine   Website Review Palestine Archaeological Databank and Information System (PADIS)

Countering exploitation and oppression: Resolutions from World Archaeological Congress Inter-Congress on Structural Violence, Ramallah, Palestine

"We call on all people, archaeologists and non-archaeologists alike, to use the power of the past in support of equality, justice, and a fulfilling life for all as well as to counter exploitation and oppression."

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http://www.worldarchaeologicalcongress.org/component/content/article/1-latest/563-resolutions-from-world-archaeological-congress-inter-congress-on-structural-violence-ramallah-palestine

Wednesday, 21 December 2011 18:51

Preamble

These resolutions emerge from the Inter-Congress of the World Archaeological Congress “Overcoming Structural Violence,” which was held in Ramallah, Palestine, 8-13 August, 2009. The WAC Executive has acted, and is acting, on these recommendations.

Resolution 1

We recognize that the past is a powerful resource for groups in the present. Connections to the past have been used to establish identities and to legitimize claims to land, monuments, and objects. Rival claims have too often led to violence, both physical and structural, in the present. We cannot carry out archaeological and cultural heritage research without recognizing its political implications.

We call on all people, archaeologists and non-archaeologists alike, to use the power of the past in support of equality, justice, and a fulfilling life for all as well as to counter exploitation and oppression.

We call on those in positions of power to refrain from imposing their interpretations of the past. In particular, we call on all governments and professional groups to propose laws, regulations and ethical codes of conduct that would prohibit support, whether with financial or other means, for archaeological excavations that result in the displacement of people from their homes.

We support the rights of oppressed groups in the present to criticize abuses of the past by others and to be assured of a public forum in which to put forth their own interpretations of the past. Any attempt to overcome structural violence must provide opportunities for all interested parties to debate interpretations of the past on an equal footing as long as their aims support equality, justice and an end to oppression.

Resolution 2

We call upon all Palestinians, both individuals and institutions, that have a stake in the field of cultural heritage to coordinate their efforts, cooperate between themselves and their local communities, and ensure the protection and preservation of the endangered cultural heritage of their country. We are deeply concerned about the ongoing destruction and damage of major archaeological sites, specifically Tell Jenin, Tell et-Tell, and Tell es-Sultan, by construction activities and illicit digging.

We acknowledge that an end to the occupation of Palestinian territory is essential to effectively countering the structural violence inherent in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Recalling the provisions of the International Conventions for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and their related Protocols we express our deep concern over the harm suffered by Palestinian civilians and cultural heritage sites during the Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009.

Furthermore, we note the destruction of infrastructure, and a significant deterioration of basic services, and damage to schools and universities that this military attack caused. We call upon all concerned parties to respect and protect cultural heritage sites during military actions.

We express deep concern regarding the Israeli authorities’ excavations in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, a protected site on the World Heritage List, contrary to the provisions of the Second Protocol of the Hague Convention on Cultural Property. We also express again our deep concern with the destruction wrought upon cultural heritage and civilians by the building of the Israeli Separation Wall.

We also condemn the damage caused by the Israeli military to the cultural heritage of Nablus, Hebron, Bethlehem, and other heritage sites listed on the "Inventory of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites of Potential Outstanding Universal Value in Palestine“ prepared by the Palestinian Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage in 2005.

We call upon WAC's Executive to take all necessary measures with the concerned parties to preserve and protect Palestinian heritage sites in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, and to assist the concerned Palestinian institutions in developing capacity in the protection, preservation and management of heritage sites and cultural property, including support for:

a. Awareness raising initiatives for local communities (publication and distribution of information material, consultative workshops).

b. Institutional capacity building and sharing of knowledge (training courses on information management, site management and risk preparedness).

c. Logistical and training support to the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

d. Education programs at Palestinian educational institutions.

e. Assist the Palestinian Authority in assembling a database of cultural property removed from the occupied Palestinian territory.

Resolution 3

Noting that since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 millions of artifacts have been taken from Museums, excavated and removed from Palestinian territory by Israeli authorities we call upon Israel to repatriate all of those objects to the Palestinian Department of Antiquities without further delay. This includes all sensitive materials including the Dead Sea Scrolls

We express concern that in June 2009, the Royal Ontario Museum, in collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority, illegally imported into Canada and put on display Palestinian artifacts, including the portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, in violation of international customary law and UNESCO conventions and protocols. And we thus call on the WAC Executive and the President to take the following action:

a. Issue a letter to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) calling on the ROM to respect its ethical and legal obligations by ensuring any exhibit of Palestinian artifacts removed from the Palestinian territories are displayed with the explicit approval of the Palestinian National Authority.

b. Issue a letter to Canada's Minister of Heritage calling on Canada to honor its international legal commitments under UNESCO conventions and related protocols by taking custody of the Scrolls and holding on to them in trust until the conflict between the Palestinian Authority and Israel is resolved.

c. Issue a letter to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) calling on the IAA to stop its practice of exporting and exhibiting Palestinian cultural property without explicit approval from the Palestinian Authority.

Resolution 4

WAC encourages the establishment of a professional organization for Palestinian archaeologists that would serve as a forum for communication. The organization should comprise government officials, academics and students, as well as heritage professionals from Palestinian non-governmental organizations. It should serve as a platform for archaeologists, historians and art historians, architects and engineers to share their ideas, expertise and scholarship about the preservation, protection and management of archaeological and cultural heritage. The participants of the Ramallah WAC Inter-Congress call on the Palestinian Authority to reactivate the Palestinian Archaeological Council. This Council should function as an open forum for communication and sharing ideas and comprises of representatives of governmental, academic, and non-governmental institutions.

Resolution 5

The departments of archaeology at Palestinians universities lack adequate teaching personnel to train the next generation of Palestinian archaeologists and cultural heritage professionals. We call upon WAC to launch a program to support foreign visiting teachers to interested Palestinian archaeology departments. During the Ramallah Inter-Congress, it also became apparent that there is a need for library resources in the West Bank and Gaza. For the purpose of this discussion, electronic reference refers to PDF files, e-books, links to valuable reference material and possibly image files. Once again, the most important thing here is to have specific needs addressed by the faculty and students of universities in the Occupied Territories. We propose establishing a central location on the web, from which each university in the Occupied Territories could access the various resources. An electronic repository eliminates some of the problems that are inherent in hard copy references. For example, universities in Gaza could simply log on and access files without having to wait for those files to be delivered from the West Bank. Also, if there is one book or one article that is particularly useful a number of people could use it at the same time.

Resolution 6

WAC is an association that encourages dialogue and cooperation between archaeologists and cultural heritage specialists from around the world. WAC emphasizes the promotion of mutual understanding not only of archaeologists but of all peoples. The Ramallah Inter-Congress participants encourage all archaeologists around the world to take an active role in the WAC and its activities.

Resolution 7

Ramallah Inter-Congress participants would have liked to visit archaeological sites together and we deplore the fact that most Palestinian attendants were not permitted to visit East Jerusalem. We object to all border restrictions that prevent the free movement of particular ethnic, political, social and religious populations, including scholars and students. We equally object to all archaeology that is done on the backs of subaltern people, who are often forced out of their homes and other spaces for the sake of researching the past. An archaeology that impinges in this way on the daily lives of communities is unethical.

Further Information: Issued by the Executive of the World Archaeological Congress. Contacts: Claire Smith, WAC President (Claire.smith@flinders.edu.au); Jon Price, WAC Executive Member (jonprice955@btinternet.com); Hamdan Taha, Assistant Deputy Minister, Sector of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Palestinian National Authority (htaha99@yahoo.com); Adel Yahya, Head of the ONG Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange, PACE (pace@p-ol.com); Reinhard Bernbeck, Freie Universitaet Berlin and Binghamton University (rbernbec@zedat.fu-berlin.de).

World Archaeological Congress

The World Archaeological Congress (WAC) is an international forum for discussion for anyone who is genuinely concerned with the study of the past. WAC is based on the need to recognise the historical and social role and political context of archaeology, and the need to make archaeological studies relevant to the wider community.

The World Archaeological Congress has particular interest in:

• education about the past
• archaeology and indigenous people
• the ethics of archaeological enquiry
• the protection of sites and objects of the past
• the effect of archaeology on host communities
• the ownership, conservation and exploitation of the archaeological heritage
• application of new technologies in archaeology and in archaeological communication