The old Christian monastery in Gaza was included in the danger list at the UNESCO session in India
NEW DELHI: An ancient Christian monastery in Gaza was recognized as an endangered world heritage during a UNESCO session in New Delhi on Friday.
Founded around 340 by Saint Hilarion, the monastery is part of Tell Umm Amer, an archaeological site located in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza's Deir Al-Balah governorate.
Submitted for inscription by the Permanent Delegation of Palestine to UNESCO in 2012, its nomination was urgently processed during the ongoing annual session of the World Heritage Committee.
Ambassador Mounir Anastas, Palestine's permanent delegate to the UN cultural agency, hailed the inscription as giving hope to the people of Gaza following ongoing Israeli attacks that have since October killed at least 40,000 people and destroyed most of the enclave's infrastructure Palestinian. .
“It is a message of hope for our people in Gaza, who are fleeing the bombing, who have no shelter, no water, no food. However, they are committed to protecting their heritage because this heritage is part of the memory and history of our people,” Anastas told Arab News on the sidelines of the UNESCO session.
The motion was put forward by Belgium and sponsored by 18 other members of the World Heritage Committee, who resorted to the emergency procedure provided for in the World Heritage Convention and accepted the inscription of the Saint Hilarion Monastery complex as both a World Heritage Site and a World Heritage Site in Danger. lists.
Under the terms of the convention, its 195 state parties, including Israel, are prohibited from directly or indirectly damaging the site and pledge to cooperate in its protection.
“Once the site is inscribed on the list of world heritage in danger, it means that all states parties to the convention are responsible for the protection and promotion of the site,” Mounir said.
“And this is also another strong message from the international community to our people in Gaza, saying that the international community will not forget.”
Saint Hilarion was originally from the Gaza region and is considered the father of Palestinian monasticism. His monastery was an important crossroads between Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia and is associated with the phenomenon of desert monastic centers of the Byzantine period. It also bears witness to Christianity in Gaza.
One of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, the complex consists of two churches, a burial place, a baptistery, a public cemetery, an audience hall and dining halls.
At least 207 archaeological sites and buildings of cultural and historical importance, out of a total of 320, have been reduced to rubble or severely damaged by Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip over the past 10 months.
These include the Saint Porphyrios Orthodox Church — the third oldest church in the world — the 12th-century Omari Great Mosque and the nearby medieval Al-Qissariya Square, Gaza's ancient seaport dating back to 800 BC. and a Philistine cemetery dating to the Late Bronze Age, 1550. -1200 BC
The destruction of many archaeological sites was detailed in the case of South Africa v. Israel for the crime of genocide at the International Court of Justice. of Justice. The case argues that the mass killings and destruction of cultural heritage in Gaza demonstrate the Israeli leadership's intent to destroy the Palestinian people and their cultural identity.
