PCHR Publishes New Report Calling for Pressuring Israel to Cease Destruction of Cultural Property of the Palestinian People
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published a new report on Sunday, 30 June 2024, titled “Cultural Genocide.” In its report, PCHR emphasizes that The current intentional and systematic destruction of cultural and historical property in the Gaza Strip emerges with the sole objective to erase the identity and historical heritage of the Palestinian people, who are the indigenous inhabitants on this land. PCHR also Calls on the International Court of Justice to include Israel’s violations materialized in the deliberate destruction of historical and archaeological objects, in the case currently submitted to ICJ, considering these attacks as war crimes, human rights violations and a genocide aimed at inflicting a whole or partial destruction to the Palestinians by obliterating their historical heritage, and this can be classified under the cultural genocide against them.
The report indicates that During Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Gaza Strip ongoing since 07 October 2023, the Israeli military has spared no human or stone, furthering what it started in 1948 when over 600 Palestinian cities and villages were wiped out, and nearly a million Palestinians were ethnically cleansed to build settlements. The report points out that today after 75 years, the Nakba is relived again as Israel forcibly displaced around 2 million Palestinians from their houses that was extensively destroyed. Moreover, the Israeli occupying Forces (IOF) left no stone unturned to destroy the cultural property and heritage sites in the Gaza Strip, reminiscent of what it previously did in the cities and villages of historic Palestine and is still doing in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem. This may amount to a cultural genocide aimed at erasing the tangible heritage that inherently connects the indigenous people (Palestinians) to their homeland and deliberately and systematically obliterating their history and heritage.
The report provides an overview of Israel’s major violations and acts of hostility directed against the historic monuments and cultural property amid the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip. According to official statistics, IOF have intentionally destroyed around 206 archaeological and historic sites, including historic mosques and churches, public markets and neighborhoods, some dated to over a thousand year. Additionally, universities, libraries, museums, theaters, murals, castles, manuscripts, and cultural institutions have been demolished. According to the report, this destruction constitutes a grave violation of international law and reveals Israel’s failure to fulfil its duties and responsibilities to preserve and safeguard cultural heritage in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
Amid the ongoing war and lack of a final and comprehensive assessment of the damage inflicted to the archaeological and cultural sites, the report elaborates on the damage documented after Israel withdrew from several areas in the Gaza Strip. The report draws on Israel’s intent to commit cultural genocide expressly evidenced by the destruction of Gaza’s prominent archaeological and cultural sites, such as the Great Omari Mosque, the Church of Saint Porphyrius, the Anthedon Harbor, Qasr Al-Basha, the Byzantine Church of Jabalia, and Rashad Shawa Cultural Center, one of Gaza City’s most important cultural landmarks.
The report establishes links between IOF’s targeting of the cultural and historical identity and other crimes against civilians. While the latter collects the lives of defenseless civilians by bombing homes over their heads, the former simultaneously attempts to destroy their historical heritage and erase their past. This constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, and the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, along with its First and Second Protocols. Furthermore, it is a gross violation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and thereby amounts to a crime against humanity.
The report also raises suspicions of Israel’s theft of artifacts from Qasr Al-Basha Museum and the Gaza Archaeological Storage. Thus, the international community and international organizations, particularly the UNESCO, shall fulfill their duties and preserve the Palestinian cultural property. According to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, in which Israel is a state member, the transfer of antiquities from the occupied territories is prohibited and considered plunder of cultural property, and constitutes a violation of international human rights laws, as detailed in the Convention on Civil, Political, Economic and Social Rights.
The report offers recommendations, urging the international community to take immediate and serious action to stop Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip and calling upon Israel, the occupying power, to cease targeting cultural properties. The report also Calls on the International Court of Justice to include Israel’s violations materialized in the deliberate destruction of historical and archaeological objects, in the case currently submitted to ICJ, considering these attacks as war crimes, human rights violations and a genocide aimed at inflicting a whole or partial destruction to the Palestinians by obliterating their historical heritage, and this can be classified under the cultural genocide against them.
The report calls on UNESCO and the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights to document and expose the Israeli crimes against the cultural rights of the Palestinian people and to pressure the Israeli authorities to stop their crimes against the Palestinian cultural heritage, forming the backbone of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
