Nearly 41 Gazan historical sites have been destroyed by Israel: UNESCO

Jerusalem. with his napoleon palace destroyed, the ancient Greek site of Anthedon bombed and the only private museum burned, Gaza’s heritage is paying a heavy price for the war.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates, based on satellite images, that nearly 41 historical sites have suffered damage since Israel began bombing the besieged territory as a result. of the Hamas attack on October 7.

In both Israel and the Palestinian Territories, archeology is a hot political issue, and discoveries are often used to justify the claims of the two warring peoples.

On the ground, Palestinian archaeologist Fadel al Otol monitors the destruction in real time. When he has the Internet, his WhatsApp is filled with photos showing the evolution of ancient sites and monuments.

As a teenager, he used to work for European archaeological missions, before going to study in Switzerland and Paris, at the Louvre museum.

In Gaza, he directs a network of 40 archaeologists trained to excavate the ground, reconstruct the past in three dimensions and preserve heritage. They are the ones who send you the images.

All archaeological remains in the north have been reachedhe said from the bombed territory.

The Israeli military offensive in Gaza, launched in response to the October attack, has so far left more than 33,700 dead, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health.

The heritage has not been spared either, except for some of its greatest treasures. This is due, curiously, to the blockade that Israel has imposed on the strip for 16 years.

State looting?

Blakhiya (ancient Greek city of Anthedon) was directly bombed. There is a huge holedescribed Otol.

The part of the deposit that we had not started digging was hit by the attack, he added. The site is located near Hamas headquarters.

In the old city of Gaza, Al Basha palace was completely destroyed. There were bombings and then the bulldozers arrivedhe assured.

At the site there was hundreds of ancient objects and magnificent sarcophagihe added.

The palace, made of ocher stone, began to be built in the 13th century, and was known to Palestinians for having housed Napoleon Bonaparte at the end of his disastrous Egyptian campaign of 1799. The room where the French emperor supposedly slept was full of objects Byzantines.

Our best finds were exhibited at Al Bashasaid Jean-Baptiste Humbert, of the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem (EBAF). But at the moment, little is known about his fate, and Humbert wonders if someone must have removed the objects before blowing up the building.

Concerns increased when the director of Israeli Antiquities, Eli Escuido, posted a video on Instagram of Israeli soldiers surrounded by vases and ancient ceramic objects in the EBAF warehouse in Gaza.

Much of what has been unearthed in Gaza was in the Al Basha museum or in that warehouse. The Palestinians were quick to accuse the Israeli army of looting. But an archaeologist from the EBAF, René Elter, stated that there is no evidence of state looting.

My colleagues were able to return to the scene. The soldiers opened boxes. We don’t know if they took anything, he declared. But Every day, when Fadel calls me, I’m afraid he’ll tell me that one of our colleagues has died or that such and such a place was destroyed..

While Israel has a large number of archaeologists who have unearthed impressive ancient treasures, Gaza remains relatively intact despite a rich past dating back thousands of years.

The Gaza Strip, located between the Sinai and Lebanon, has been a crossroads of civilizations for centuries and an important link between Africa and Asia.

As a center of the incense trade, it attracted Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans and Ottomans alike.

A key figure in the excavation of this glorious past over the past decades has been Jawdat Khoudary, a Gazan construction magnate and collector.

In the 1990s, following the Oslo Accords and the creation of the Palestinian Authority, Gaza experienced a real estate boom, but when work began on the new buildings, workers came across a wealth of old artifacts. Khoudary amassed the treasures in his residence and presented them to foreign archaeologists.

Marc-André Haldimann, then curator of the MAH, the museum of art and history in Geneva, could not believe when he visited the garden of the Khoudary mansion in 2004.

We are faced with 4 thousand objects, including an avenue of Byzantine columnshe recalled.

The admiration that the objects aroused led him to the idea of ​​organizing a large exhibition of the Gazan past at the MAH, and building a museum in the Palestinian territory itself so that the inhabitants could take ownership of their heritage.

Thus, at the end of 2006, nearly 260 objects from the Khoudary collection left Gaza bound for Geneva, and some later formed part of another successful exhibition at the Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris; However, geopolitical changes altered the plans. In June 2007, Hamas expelled the Palestinian Authority from Gaza and Israel imposed its blockade.

As a result, the Gazan objects were trapped in Geneva. The museum project came to a standstill.

Khoudary did not lose hope and built the Al Mathaf hotel-museum in the north of Gaza City, where years later the current Israeli military offensive would begin.

Al Mathaf remained under Israeli control for monthsexplained Khoudary, who fled Gaza to Egypt.

“As soon as they left, I asked some people to go there to see what state the place was in. I stayed in shock. Several objects were missing and the room had been set on fire,” he said.

His house was also destroyed during heavy fighting in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

The Israelis razed the garden with bulldozers (…) I don’t know if the objects were buried or if the marble columns were broken or lootedhe added.

The AFP contacted the Israeli army, but it declined to comment on these destructions and accused Hamas of using hospitals, schools and heritage sites for military purposes.

Israel maintains its commitments to international law, including granting necessary special protections (to heritage)indicated a military statement.

Although part of Khoudary’s collection has been lost, the treasures preserved in Switzerland remain intact, saved by the blockade and bureaucratic procedures that delayed their return.

During years, there were 106 boxes ready to return to Gaza, said Béatrice Blandin, current curator of the MAH museum. Given the impossibility of her return, Blandin stated that conversations are being held for a new exhibition on Gaza in Switzerland.

Khoudary welcomes the idea. The largest collection of objects on the history of Gaza is in Geneva. If there is a new exhibition, the whole world will be able to know our historyhe declared.

Haldimann tries to get his friend Fadel al Otol to leave the strip. A new exhibition on Gaza would prove once again that Gaza (…) is anything but a black hole.