Open Letter: Against cultural destruction in Gaza and the West Bank

Eine Initiative von Emek Shaveh

Open letter from archaeologists, antiquities researchers, and museum curators against cultural destruction in Gaza and the West Bank

In recent days we have learnt of the total destruction of a building housing the archaeological store-rooms of the École Biblique in Gaza, an act that necessitated the urgent and apparently partial relocation of tens of thousands of items, causing damage whose extent is still unknown. This is a continuation of the policy of destruction and annihilation in the Gaza Strip that has also targeted heritage sites (according to the latest reports, about 110 historical buildings, archaeological sites, and other cultural properties have been severely damaged or completely destroyed), mostly with no known connection to military needs.

Such actions, which contravene the rules of warfare as set forth in international conventions, add to the ongoing Israeli violation of international law in the occupied territories (Judea and Samaria), and to the constraint on the activities of Palestinian archaeological authorities in areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control (Areas A and B). These circumstances have resulted in the neglect of many cultural properties, their appropriation by nationalist elements, and their partial or complete destruction.

In view of the imminent planned destruction of Gaza city and the damage to heritage sites of local and global significance throughout the Gaza Strip, which continues decades of destruction and neglect of Palestinian cultural heritage within the State of Israel and the West Bank, we, professionals in the fields of heritage, call upon the Government of Israel and the military to:

• Immediately stop the demolition of the Gaza Strip, the destruction of its cultural treasures, and the attempt to cleanse it of any presence other than Jewish.
   
• Resume adherence to international law, particularly those conventions that dictate the proper treatment of cultural heritage during armed conflicts and occupation —treaties that have been ratified by the State of Israel.
   
• End the rule of settler gangs and the ongoing annexation of heritage sites in the West Bank and enable Palestinian archaeological enforcement in areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control.

The heritage of Palestine/the Land of Israel belongs to all the natives of the land, as well as to all who have made it their home and have a stake in its future. Muslims, Christians, and Jews have lived in this land and sustained it for centuries and millennia: It is our duty to maintain the heritage of the land in all its diversity, for the sake of our future and that of our descendants.
Singed

Prof. Rafi Greenberg
Dr Tawfiq Da’adli
Dr Dotan Halevy
Dr Chemi Shiff
Alon Arad