Ref: 10/2010
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns a decisions
taken by the Israeli government on Sunday, 21 February 2010, to include the
“Tomb of the Patriarch” (the Ibrahimi Mosque) in Hebron and
“Rachel Tomb” (Bilal Ben Rabah Mosque) in Bethlehem on the list of
Israeli archaeological sites. PCHR
reminds that this decision was taken on the eve of the 16th
anniversary of the mass killing of 29 Palestinian worshippers in the Ibrahimi
Mosque by an Israeli settler, Baroch Goldstein, on 25 February 1994. PCHR further emphasizes that the continued
international tolerance towards crimes committed by Israel, the Occupying
Power, serves to encourage it to commit more of such crimes. Accordingly, PCHR repeats its calls for the
international community to provide protection for Palestinian civilians, their
property and their religious sites.
In its weekly meeting held on Sunday, 21 February 2010, the Israeli
government endorsed the inclusion of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and Bilal
Ben Rabah Mosque in Bethlehem on the list of Israeli archaeological sites. It also allocated more than US$ one million
for “their maintenance and reparation.” The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu, linked the decision with the policy of settlement expansion in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) when stating that: “Our existence as
a state does not only depend on the army, but also on enhancing our knowledge,
our national feeling, which we will convey to the next generation, and our
connection to the homeland.” Under
the plan, 150 archaeological sites will be maintained to be linked in a joint
“historical biblical track” in order to “educate the next
generation of the Jewish and Zionist history.”
It is worth noting that Israeli occupation authorities established the “Shamgar
Committee” following the mass killing in the Ibrahimi Mosque on 25
February 1994 The committee recommended
dividing the Mosque between Muslims and Jews (30% and 70% respectively).
In light of the above, PCHR emphasizes the following:
1) The Israeli
government’s decision constitutes a violation of Article 1 of the Hague
Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed
Conflict of 1954, which defines, inter alia, cultural property as ”
movable or immovable property of great importance to the cultural heritage of
every people, such as monuments of
architecture, art or history,
whether religious or secular…,” and states in Article 2 that ” the
protection of cultural property shall comprise the safeguarding of and respect
for such property.”
2) Article 9 of the
Second Protocol to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property
in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 prohibits and prevents “any illicit export, other removal or transfer of ownership
of cultural property.”
3) Article 147 of the
1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time
of War considers “extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not
justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly”
as a grave breach of the Convention.
4) PCHR warns of possible
escalation of the situation in the OPT given the religious status of the
Ibrahimi Mosque for Muslims, and holds Israeli occupation authorities
responsible for any escalation.
Accordingly, PCHR calls:
1) For convening a new
conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention Relative to
the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War to take concrete steps to
ensure Israel’s respect for the Convention in the OPT, and to immediately
provide protection for Palestinian civilians and their civilian and cultural
property.
2) Upon the High
Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War to fulfill their obligations under Article 146
of the Convention “to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to
have ordered to be committed” grave breaches of the Convention; Israeli
war criminal in this case.
3) For the application of
Article 10 of the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention for the Protection of
Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954, which allows placing
cultural property under enhanced protection, if “it
is cultural heritage of the greatest importance for humanity” and “it
is not used for military purposes.”
