Guest Editorial: Gaza's Cultural Heritage and Intellectual Life

The horrific attack in Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023, and the almost continuous destruction of the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces since then, has left us all reeling and in shock. For some, the tragedy is very personal, and will leave indelible scars. The PEF, like many other institutions and societies, has issued statements to reflect this and to acknowledge the tragedy, and calls for a cessation of hostilities.

These statements were crafted over several days with the input of the entire Board of Trustees of the PEF. Even so, in the face of so much violence and death, who cares, really, what the PEF and other organisations say on this matter? How can it materially change the reality of what’s happening all around us? Yet for us, to say nothing was unacceptable. This tragedy is unfolding in the centre of our academic world and we number among our friends and colleagues, on both sides of the conflict, those who have been directly affected.

As the onslaught has continued, and we witness the destruction of many civic buildings in Gaza, our minds have turned to the terrible destruction of Gaza’s unique cultural heritage. We do not forget for one moment the lives which are being lost and ruined, but cultural heritage is our business and it is therefore right that we should voice our concerns. To this end we have posted a second statement on our website, which repeats our call for a ceasefire and challenges the wider academic and cultural heritage community to work together to protect Gaza’s remaining heritage and to uphold international law with respect to the duties of the occupier and to the treatment of artefacts.

Tragically, this is not the first time the PEF has felt the need to express such opinions, whether on our website or in the pages of PEQ. The Syrian civil war and the wanton destruction of human life and cultural heritage by DAESH prompted our then President, Jonathan Tubb, to write an editorial in PEQ in 2013 (Tubb 2013), the contents of which bear a woeful similarity in part to this editorial. The issues of looting in the West Bank and the apparent disdain for cultural heritage in Gaza by the Hamas Administration have also received attention in these pages, along with pieces concerned with the protection of cultural heritage in general (Al Houdalieh 2012 and 2013).

The PEF’s interest in the creation of the legal framework in which cultural heritage is treated in times of conflict goes back to the First World War. Reports of discoveries of antiquities by Allied troops during the Beersheba Campaign found their way to the PEF and into the pages of what was then the Quarterly Statement (Drake 1918; ‘Notes & News’ in PEFQst 49.4 (1917), p. 150; 50.1 (1918), p. 3). Sometimes, soldiers would write confidentially to the PEF about such discoveries, and their disquiet about the treatment of antiquities by their superiors (PEF-DA-OFFICE-Correspondence for 1918; Gibson et al. 1998).

In response, the PEF and the British Museum together commissioned the archaeologist Duncan Mackenzie to write a report outlining the dangers to sites and antiquities in wartime, and what measures might be taken to reduce these risks, as well as what institutions might be created to ensure their care and protection on the cessation of hostilities. His Memorandum on Ancient Sites and Military Operations in Palestine Submitted to the Chairman of the Palestine Exploration Fund consisted of an analysis of a sample of excavated and unexcavated sites and their vulnerability (PEF-DA-MACK-109-111). His recommendation was that a representative of the PEF should accompany the Allied troops to verify discoveries, ensure their protection, and accurately report damage to existing monuments. He was certainly sceptical of the reports unilaterally blaming the Turks for all damage and looting. Mackenzie’s Memorandum was submitted by the PEF’s Chairman, Dr. L. W. King, to the Secretary of State for War (PEF-DA-EC-MINUTES, 14 February 1918).

Much of what Mackenzie recommended found its way into an ‘Antiquities Proclamation’, produced by the Pro-Jerusalem Society in 1918, and signed by A.W. Money, Major General and Chief Administrator of the Occupied Enemy Territory, (South), Palestine. This document laid out a series of protocols as to how antiquities should be treated, and what was, and what was not to be tolerated (Money 1918). His report was part of a wider strategy to expand and formalise Britain’s archaeological presence in Palestine.

We may have a lower profile than we did a hundred years ago, but what happens now, today, and in the coming decades, is still very much our business and we and our colleagues should not stay silent. We have a duty to our friends and colleagues whose incredible work in Gaza has been decimated, and to the academics and students who have been building a flourishing cultural heritage community in Gaza and whose lives have now been shattered.

For us, this is not simply rhetoric. Universities and learned societies across the world have a moral obligation to help in the rebirth of academic and cultural life in the Gaza Strip. The PEF, like many institutions, was born in different, colonial times, and we are alive to the responsibilities this brings. We work, like others, to decolonise our collections. The coming years will require us to do more. Our collections, our libraries, our digital archives contain seeds out of which the intellectual life and cultural heritage of Gaza Strip may re-grow.

PEF Archival sources:

PEF-DA-OFFICE-Correspondence for 1918

PEF-DA-MACK-109-111

PEF-DA-EC-MINUTES, 14 February 1918