-Analysis-
Israel’s war in Gaza can be described as a fight against the ancient identity of Gaza. It has led to the destruction of its original identity and historical and cultural heritage. It can be called “cultural genocide,” targeting Gaza’s history, the Palestinian cause and traces of those who lived in the strip. And it will have consequences that could last for centuries.
For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.
This war is not only destroying Gaza’s stones and antiquities, which date back thousands of years, but it is also targeting the new generation that should preserve the Palestinian identity and cultural heritage in Gaza, and the history of the Palestinian cause, which began about 76 years ago.
The destruction caused by the war memorializes the brutality of what the people of Gaza are experiencing.
As of March 7, UNESCO confirmed damage to 41 sites: damage to 41 sites in the first five months of the war: 10 religious sites, 22 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, two depositories of movable cultural property, three monuments, one museum and three archeological sites. And expressed its “deep concern about the impact of the ongoing conflict on cultural heritage.”
According to a report by ICOMOS, a professional association dedicated to the conservation and protection of cultural sites worldwide, the intense bombardments have made “no distinction between military and civilian targets or human and cultural heritage” and have destroyed or severely damaged more than 200 of the 325 registered sites in Gaza, translating to a destruction of “more than 60% of Gaza’s cultural civil heritage.”
Mass destruction of the cultural heritage
Considered one of the oldest cities in the world, Gaza’s historical monuments date back to Byzantine, Greek and Islamic times. The Omari Mosque, the oldest in Gaza and a major landmark, was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in early December, leaving only the minaret intact. Its library of some 132 manuscripts, dating back to the year of 920 in the Islamic calendar (between 1514-1515 A.D.), was destroyed.
Christian monuments have not been spared, including churches, considered witnessed to the city’s ancient history and to the message of Jesus.
“The genocidal war is targeting Palestinians in Gaza who have an open cultural mentality.”
“The war is not only a military one; the genocidal war is targeting Palestinians in Gaza who have an open cultural mentality,” Abu Nahl said, stressing the consequences on the next generation. With the war in its sixth month, school children and students did not attend the first semester of their school year.
“Almost all of Palestinian universities in Gaza have been wiped out. Everything in the universities, including thousands of valuable books, and thousands of master’s and doctoral theses, has been destroyed, in addition to the majority of Gaza’s schools,” said Jamal Abu Nahl, a novelist and the founder and president of the National Center for Scholars of Palestine.
In January, the UN stated that “75% of all school buildings across the Gaza Strip have been impacted” and noted that “most UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip have been turned into shelters.” According to the annual statistical guide for Palestinian higher education, Gaza counted a total of 16 universities and colleges; all were destroyed or severely damaged by the Israeli military.
Abu Nahl said Palestinians must work to preserve and restore Gaza’s cultural heritage to “send a clear message to Israel that the history of Palestine will remain despite all attempts to unroot it.”
A history that will not disappear
For Riyad Aila, dean of Administrative Sciences at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, the destruction of monuments is part of an Israeli policy to eliminate Gaza’s cultural heritage “with the aim of reaching a conclusion that they alone own the land.”
Hassan Dohan, a University of Palestine media professor, noted that during Israeli occupation of Gaza between 1967 and 2005, archaeological and historical sites were destroyed, and settlements and military sites were established, including the Tal Rafah archeological site, which was turned into a military site.
Aila noted that many schools have been turned into shelters for displaced people, who will be there for an estimated five years until they can find other places to live in, saying Israel’s goal is probably “to raise a generation that they may think will be occupied by his own life and forget (their Palestinian) cause.” He said university professors and researchers will have a lot of work to do when the war ends. They will have to remind the population, especially young people, of the destroyed monuments.
“The destruction of ancient monuments will not make the generations of Palestine forget the Palestinian cause. It will continue despite the daily massacres of Gaza’s women, children and elderly,” Aila said.
