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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Self Portrait "FATIMA" by Palestinian Artist Fatima Abu Rumi ... Fatima's work explores identity, gender, and society through a critical and deeply personal lens. Her works deals with the complexity of life as a Palestinian woman living in Israel. She expresses these themes in her work through an integration of self-portraits.

"Stunning Self Portrait "FATIMA" by Palestinian Artist Fatima Abu Rumi. The attention to detail is truly exquisite, I love it! Born 1977 in Galilee, Fatima's work explores identity, gender, and society through a critical and deeply personal lens. Her works deals with the complexity of life as a Palestinian woman living in Israel. She expresses these themes in her work through an integration of self-portraits." Zara Zhar

https://x.com/Boudicca61AD/status/2086872613096460589/photo/1

Zara Zhar

@Boudicca61AD

Painting by Palestinian Artist Fatima Abu Rumi. - Untitled No3, 2025

 https://x.com/Boudicca61AD

Painting by Palestinian Artist Fatima Abu Rumi. - Untitled No1, 2025 Fatima, born in 1977 in Galilee, is an painter whose work explores identity, gender, and society through a critical and deeply personal lens. Her works deals with the complexity of life as a Palestinian woman living in Israel. Fatima expresses these themes in her work through an integration of self-portraits.

https://x.com/Boudicca61AD

Common Words with Arabic Roots

   

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Arabic_origin

 

Given the number of words which have entered English from Arabic, this list is split alphabetically into sublists, as listed below:

• List of English words of Arabic origin (A-B)
• List of English words of Arabic origin (C-F)
• List of English words of Arabic origin (G-J)
• List of English words of Arabic origin (K-M)
• List of English words of Arabic origin (N-S)
• List of English words of Arabic origin (T-Z)
• List of English words of Arabic origin: Addenda for certain specialist vocabularies 

“AI capabilities are outpacing both scientific understanding and governments’ ability to adapt,” Mr. Bengio said. “With growing evidence of deceptive AI behaviour, science currently cannot guarantee that as capabilities continue to increase, AI will not cause catastrophic harm, either on its own or due to malicious users...”

Unsplash/Aidin Geranrekab AI is currently revolutionising multiple industries, including smartphones.

‘The science is here’: UN chief welcomes first global AI assessment

1 July 2026 Culture and Education

Fresh scientific evidence and options for harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) were unveiled Wednesday following the launch of the first global, independent scientific assessment of opportunities, risks and impacts by a pioneering UN expert panel.

Key takeaways

The report outlines findings across seven key domains:

• AI science, advances and trajectories
• Societal applications in science, health, education and agriculture
• Economic implications
• Security, systems and environmental implications
• Human rights, information and democracy
• Cultural benefits, autonomy and child safety
• Management, governance and reliability

“The science is here,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the report launch. “We can no longer say we did not know. What we do with it is now up to all of us.”

The more AI advances without shared rules, the less say governments and people will have in the outcome, the UN chief said, adding “my message to governments is simple: do not wait.”

Aiming to build a shared understanding and evidence at this critical juncture, the Preliminary Report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI: Evidence-based assessment of opportunities, risks and impacts of AI was penned by the first global, fully independent scientific body dedicated to assessing its real impacts across economies and societies.

Read the full report here.

Why it matters   .... READ MORE  https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/07/1167853 

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Here are some of the panel’s warnings:

• There are no scientific guarantees that AI agent systems will not violate instructions, and evidence is accumulating of cases where they already are
• AI agent systems will soon complete tasks that currently take human programmers days or weeks, but their deployment raises urgent questions for labour markets, cybersecurity and the controllability of future AI systems
• Sycophantic AI behaviour, where responses reinforce users’ existing beliefs regardless of accuracy, has been linked to several severe mental health incidents, including documented deaths
• Criminals and bad actors have been documented using AI systems to assist in cyberattacks
• Advanced technical abilities may allow novice private actors to use AI in malicious ways across a range of applications such as fraud and disinformation
• Reliable methods for retaining control over highly autonomous AI systems are lacking

Many of these harms fall disproportionately on already disadvantaged populations, the report stated.

What is Ecocide? ...."unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts."

Ecocide

1. For the purpose of this Statute, “ecocide” means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.

2. For the purpose of paragraph 1:

   • “Wanton” means with reckless disregard for damage which would be clearly excessive in relation to the social and economic benefits anticipated;

   • “Severe” means damage which involves very serious adverse changes, disruption or harm to any element of the environment, including grave impacts on human life or natural, cultural or economic resources;

   • “Widespread” means damage which extends beyond a limited geographic area, crosses state boundaries, or is suffered by an entire ecosystem or species or a large number of human beings;

   • “Long-term” means damage which is irreversible or which cannot be redressed through natural recovery within a reasonable period of time;

   • “Environment” means the earth, its biosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, as well as outer space.

      https://www.stopecocide.earth/legal-definition  

     Sector-specific networks in support of ecocide law 

     https://www.stopecocide.earth/networks 

"I was just a boy when I learned that my family would soon be leaving my beloved homeland of Palestine to begin a new life in America. To the adults, it was a practical decision—one made in search of opportunity and a better future, away from the suffocating Israeli occupation & oppression. But to me, it felt as though my entire world was being torn away. How could I explain what Palestine meant to a child? It was not merely a place on a map. It was the hills that encircled our small village of Beit Hanina and served as my endless playground. It was the olive and fruit orchards where I wandered freely beneath the sun. It was the caves hidden among the rocky slopes, the handmade kites dancing in the wind, and the familiar scent of earth after the rain. It was home." Mike Odetalla

Mike Hanini Odetalla

oodStpnesricham3u5c1h8l0t0i32265m9143cl9utci8m1327t603251574  ·

 

The Boy Who Tried to Stay

By Mike Odetalla

 

Fifty-seven years ago, I made one final, desperate attempt to hold on to the world I loved.

 

I was just a boy when I learned that my family would soon be leaving my beloved homeland of Palestine to begin a new life in America. To the adults, it was a practical decision—one made in search of opportunity and a better future, away from the suffocating Israeli occupation & oppression. But to me, it felt as though my entire world was being torn away.

 

How could I explain what Palestine meant to a child?

 

It was not merely a place on a map. It was the hills that encircled our small village of Beit Hanina and served as my endless playground. It was the olive and fruit orchards where I wandered freely beneath the sun. It was the caves hidden among the rocky slopes, the handmade kites dancing in the wind, and the familiar scent of earth after the rain.

 

It was home.

 

Unable to imagine life anywhere else, I did the only thing a heartbroken child could think to do: I ran away.

 

I sought refuge at the home of my beloved Aunt Jameela (Allah yerhamha), whose house rested on the side of the great hill overlooking our village. To me, it was a sanctuary. I believed that if I stayed there, hidden among the hills and within the loving embrace of my aunt, perhaps the inevitable could somehow be delayed—or even stopped altogether.

 

For one precious night, I allowed myself to believe that I had succeeded.

 

But childhood dreams are no match for the plans of adults.

 

The next day, to my profound disappointment, I was gently but firmly returned to my family. Three days later, I boarded an airplane and arrived in Detroit, Michigan.

 

In the span of a few hours, my world changed forever.

 

I went from olive groves and stone terraces to concrete and smokestacks. From the quiet rhythms of village life to the noise of traffic and crowded city streets. From a landscape shaped by generations of my ancestors to an unfamiliar urban jungle of steel and asphalt.

 

To a young boy, it felt like exile.

 

Yet even as I adapted to this new world, a part of me never left that hillside in Beit Hanina.

It remains there still—in the caves I explored, in the orchards where I played, and in the comforting presence of Aunt Jameela's home perched above the village. In my mind, I can still see that small boy clutching his hopes, convinced that if he hid long enough, he could somehow prevent the loss of everything he cherished.

 

He was wrong, of course.

 

But I have never stopped admiring his determination.

 

And perhaps that is why Palestine has never left me.

 

Because no matter how many miles separate us, no matter how many years pass, the heart remembers where it first learned to love.

 

And somewhere deep inside me, that little boy is still running up the hill, still seeking refuge in Aunt Jameela's home, and still believing that home is worth holding onto with all his might.

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&

Mike Hanini Odetalla

ednosrSpto8a91ma4hu506iu493gf8ilm078tu7hhuli711icc5tt2c4thl8  ·

Reflections on the wholesale Destruction in Gaza & Lebanon

 

5/27/26

 

Once, when I was a child, my late grandfather (ay) scolded me for disturbing a bird’s nest. 

 

He asked me, “How would you feel if someone came and destroyed your home?”

 

That lesson stayed with me my entire life.

 

A simple village farmer (fallah), with little formal education, understood something fundamental: compassion begins by placing yourself in the suffering of others.

 

And yet today, we witness Palestinian and Lebanese homes destroyed on a massive scale — entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble, families buried beneath concrete, children traumatized for life, and generations scarred forever.

 

I often wonder: where are the voices of the grandfathers who are supposed to teach mercy, restraint, and humanity? What lessons are being passed down to children when silence greets the destruction of other people’s homes and lives?

 

Because when children are taught to normalize cruelty, indifference, or collective punishment, the damage extends far beyond shattered buildings. It reaches and decays the soul.

 

The measure of our humanity is not in how we treat those who look like us, pray like us, or agree with us — but in whether we can recognize the pain of others as if it were our own. 

 

— Mike Odetalla 

& 

Mike Odetalla's newest book- buy a copy, enjoy, savor it... then pass it on to your local library or a child that you know and love  

Aunt Jameela's Bread. A Story of Food, Family, and Love..... A beautiful new book by Palestinian-American Mike Odetalla about childhood and baking bread in his homeland.

A beautiful new book by Palestinian-American Mike Odetalla about childhood, family, and homemade bread in his homeland