Palestine Tet – 85 – On massive scale, Israel violates rules for protecting cultural heritage
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First Israel wanted to deport the Palestinians to Egypt’s desert, which was a no go. Then they tried asking Congo to take them. Looks like Congo refused so now they want to deport them on an artificial island This is literally the stuff of mad dystopia movies.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said during a meeting with his European counterparts that he presented the idea of an artificial island that would be an alternative homeland for the Palestinians
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1. On massive scale, Israel violates rules for protecting cultural heritage
Geneva – Israel is conducting systematic military attacks against cultural sites and historical monuments as part of its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which began on 7 October 2023. This constitutes a serious violation of both international humanitarian and human rights law, particularly the Geneva Conventions and the International Hague Convention pertaining to the protection of cultural heritage, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said on Monday.
Euro-Med Monitor expressed deep concern over reports of the Israeli army seizing thousands of rare artefacts in the Gaza Strip, which may amount to a war crime according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Israel’s army released footage on 17 January 2024 documenting its blowing up of Al-Israa University’s campus, located south of Gaza City, more than two months after occupying the university and using it as a military base, a centre for sniping civilians, and a temporary detention and investigation facility.
The destruction operation also included the headquarters of the National Museum, which was established by Al-Israa University years ago, the rights group confirmed. Regarded as the first of its kind in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the museum contained over 3,000 rare artefacts; Al-Israa University said in a statement that Israeli army forces stole the artefacts before they blew up the building.
The destruction operation also included the headquarters of the National Museum, which was established by Al-Israa University years ago, the rights group confirmed. Regarded as the first of its kind in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the museum contained over 3,000 rare artefacts; Al-Israa University said in a statement that Israeli army forces stole the artefacts before they blew up the building.
Eli Escusido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, posted a video to his Instagram account showing Israeli army soldiers at a site in Gaza containing hundreds of Palestinian artefacts. The video was shared without any explanation of the artefacts’ fate, noted Euro-Med Monitor.
The Euro-Med Monitor team received reports early in November 2023 that the Israeli army had stolen all of the archaeological artefacts it excavated from the Tel Umm Amer site (or the Monastery of Saint Hilarion), which is thought to have been one of the oldest monasteries in Palestine.
Euro-Med Monitor affirmed that, in accordance with international law, the theft of antiquities constitutes a war crime. Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its First Protocol prohibit the seizure of antiquities during conflicts. The rights organisation added that illicit trafficking of cultural property, including antiquities, is prohibited by the 1970 UNESCO Convention on Measures to Prevent the Illegal Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Furthermore, as per Article 8 of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court—which highlights the safeguarding of cultural heritage and the criminal accountability of those who breach these regulations—the taking and demolishing of antiquities constitutes a war crime.
The Geneva-based organisation emphasised that Israel’s stealing archaeological artefacts from the territory it controls is theft of cultural property and a breach of international human rights law, as outlined in the Economic and Social Rights Convention and the Convention on Civil and Political Rights, both of which Israel is a party. Israel has been deliberately stealing artefacts from Gaza as part of its systematic targeting of archaeological, historical, and cultural sites and materials in the Strip since the start of its ongoing attacks, the rights group stressed, as part of a larger plan to destroy Palestinian national and cultural identity and pride, erase the historical connection of Gazans to their land, and destroy any evidence of their presence.
Euro-Med Monitor drew attention to Israel’s clear intentional targeting of all historical structures in the Gaza Strip, including homes, churches, mosques, shrines, and archaeological sites, in addition to cultural institutions such as public libraries and monuments, theatres, publishing and printing houses, museums, and public squares. The Euro-Med Monitor team pointed to at least 10 mosques, 12 museums, and nine archaeological sites, as well as historical and archaeological churches and roughly 200 old historical buildings—mansions, castles, and palaces—as examples of sites damaged by Israel’s current bombing and destruction campaign.
This type of destruction indicates that Israel has implemented a broad and general policy to target all significant markers of Palestinian cultural, historical, and religious presence in the Gaza Strip, Euro-Med Monitor reiterated, citing the Israeli army’s targeting of memorials, gardens, and even artistic murals across the Strip, particularly in Gaza City.
Thousands of historical documents—many of which were over a century old and documented Gaza City’s architecture and the phases of its urban development—were destroyed during Israel’s recent bombing of the Gaza Municipality’s Central Archives building, along with the building itself.
Gaza’s historical landmarks and cultural assets belong to all people who are curious about human history, stated Euro-Med Monitor, not just the nation where they are situated. Thus, an impartial international investigation must be opened into the Israeli military’s egregious violations, in order to hold it accountable and put actual pressure on Israel to stop its genocide of Gazans.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to fulfill its obligations by sending an investigation committee to uncover the fate of thousands of artefacts stolen from the Gaza Strip, examine the damaged historical sites, and hold Israel accountable for targeting cultural sites and human heritage in the Strip.
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BBC: Gaza destruction risks lost generation of children, says UN official
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2. Israel to the EU: Deport Palestinians in Gaza to a fabricated island in the Mediterranean.
Rai El Youm – January 22, 2024
A position that raised widespread astonishment and criticism from several countries, including Belgium and Portugal. Israel is trying to persuade the Europeans to deport the Palestinians to an island in the Mediterranean. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al Maliki, responds: “They are steadfast in our land.”
At a time when the European Union seeks during its discussions to establish a Palestinian state on the basis that it is the only reliable way to achieve peace in the Middle East, the participants were surprised by Israel’s proposal to build an island for the Palestinians in the Mediterranean Sea.
The European Union had already expressed its concern about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s clear rejection of the idea of establishing a Palestinian state previously.
According to information, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz ignored the European approach, which was explained by a number of ministers in a session that turned into a surreal scene.
Israel did not hesitate to present its proposal to build an island in the Mediterranean Sea, where the residents of the Gaza Strip would be transferred, in a position that raised widespread astonishment in the hall and criticism from several countries, including Belgium and Portugal.
For his part, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki responded to Tel Aviv’s proposal and said, “The Palestinians are fixed on their land, and whoever proposes to create an island will go to it,” as he put it.
A European diplomat said that the discussions with the Israeli side were like a dialogue of the deaf.
A European diplomat said that the discussions with the Israeli side were like a dialogue of the deaf.
Today, Monday, the European Union presented to Israel, the countries of the Arab Follow-up Committee, and the Palestinian Authority a package of ideas in a “road map” starting from stopping the Gaza war to the establishment of a Palestinian state and regional security, according to a document obtained by Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath.
The file for ending the Gaza war includes launching a comprehensive peace plan, linked to solving the security problem for Palestinians and Israelis, and then launching the reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip, as the Arab countries require.
The Palestinians must also develop a political alternative to Hamas, in exchange for Israel’s commitment to the two-state solution.
The European document includes a call for a preparatory peace conference, the outcomes of which are the preparation of a draft peace plan and an invitation to international parties to contribute to it.
The European document stresses the necessity of granting Israel and the future Palestinian state strong security guarantees that include mutual recognition between the two sides.
The European Union foreign ministers will hold separate talks, on Monday, with the foreign ministers of Israel and Palestine, to discuss the prospects for achieving lasting peace after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a two-state solution.
Before the start of the meetings, today, Monday, European Union foreign policy official Josep Borrell said that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which Israel is currently imposing a strict blockade on as part of its war on Hamas, “cannot be worse than this.”
“From now on, I will not talk about the peace process, but I want the two-state solution process,” Borrell told reporters ahead of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers, noting that “peace and stability cannot be achieved by military means alone.” “What other solutions are they thinking of?” Borrell said. Make all Palestinians leave? Kill them?
The sudden Hamas attack led to the death of more than 1,140 people, the majority of whom were civilians, according to official Israeli data.
During the attack, about 250 people were kidnapped, about 100 of whom were released under a truce at the end of November. 132 of them are still detained in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli authorities. It is likely that at least 28 died.
The attack, unprecedented in intensity and scope in the history of Israel, led to Israel declaring war and launching a relentless military campaign on the small Strip, which has so far resulted in the martyrdom of more than 25,000 people, the vast majority of them women and children, according to the latest toll published by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
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