But one of the least talked about aspects of Israeli bombing is the destruction of cultural heritage: documents, monuments and objects.
On October 19, Israeli airstrikes damaged part of the St. Porphyry Greek Orthodox Church. Four hundred people had taken refuge inside and 18 Palestinian Christians were killed. Built in the 12th century, the church is considered the the third oldest in the world.
Memorials dedicated to prominent Palestinian figures have not been spared. On October 27, the International Federation of Journalists condemned the bulldozing from the Jenin sanctuary where Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed last year, probably by an Israeli soldier.
On November 14, a video has emerged of an Israeli bulldozer in the West Bank demolition of monuments to longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
On X, writer and translator Lina Mounzer posted a translation of a statement from Meqdad printing house and library:
“Meqdad Printing Press & Library, one of the oldest in Gaza. Millions lost: printing presses, books and equipment. The cumulative efforts of my entire family: my mother, my father and my brothers and sisters. Gone in an instant; my father left with nothing.
And this week, according to digital intelligence and Storyful sourcing site, Gaza’s main public library and central archives were devastated. THE The Gaza Municipality declared that thousands of historical documents had been deliberately destroyed and called on UNESCO to “intervene and protect cultural centers and condemn the targeting through occupation of these humanitarian facilities protected by international humanitarian law.”
Holding back tears, a Palestinian filmmaker named Bisan Owda posted on Instagram from Gaza on the destruction of the archives which, according to her, housed documents more than 100 years old. “Now we literally have nothing,” she said. “The future is unknown, the present is destroyed and the past is no longer our past. …Can you imagine that they are doing all these things to destroy our depth?
Under the 1954 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, cultural property is protected under international law. Scholars have long argued that the intentional destruction of cultural heritage is a genocidal actcomparable to the killing and displacement of people – because it results, as one political philosopher put it, in the “loss of a people itself.”
None of this is new in the history of conflicts, invasions and terrorism. Whether committed by the Romans, the British, the Nazis, or Islamic militant groups like ISIS, the destruction of cultural heritage has long been a tool of war and conquest.
Once again, as with many issues in the Israel-Gaza conflict, the question unfortunately arises: whose cultural heritage – whose lives – are considered worthy of protection?
Last year, when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I and many others sounded the alarm on the destruction of cultural heritage and the looting of objects by Russian soldiers. At the time, international organizations and academic institutions were discussing and forming working groups to try to help save Ukrainian cultural objects and offer support to Ukrainian researchers.
There was little of the same magnitude for Palestinian cultural heritage in the early days of the war on Gaza.
I spoke with academics who are monitoring the situation from afar, trying to assess the extent of the damage to archives, collections and documents. It has been difficult to measure losses due to lack of access to communications. The hope is that a truce or ceasefire will make it possible to more accurately assess the extent of the destruction. But there are also concerns about the looting of artifacts by members of the Israeli army.
It is understandable that amid the horrors committed over the past 50 days, the preservation of objects and buildings is not considered as important as the protection of innocent lives. But preserving culture and history is an integral part of protecting a people and their spirit. If Israel continues to destroy Gaza’s cultural heritage with impunity, all of humanity will lose.
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