Israel’s archaeological war on Palestinian cultural heritage
Yara Hawari - 18 March, 2022
▻https://english.alaraby.co.uk/analysis/israels-archaeological-war-palestinian-cultural-heritage
Scattered along the unassuming beaches of Gaza, buried under the rubble and destruction of Israel’s bombs, lie several extraordinary archaeological sites dating all the way back to the Iron age.
Now, a new investigation by the research group Forensic Architecture details how Israel has deliberately targeted archaeological sites in the besieged Gaza strip in a blatant attack on Palestinian cultural heritage.
Over successive bombing campaigns, these sites along Gaza’s coastline, which include a Roman era fountain and an Iron Age rampart, are now facing an “existential threat”. Working with journalists, archaeologists and activists from Gaza and beyond, Forensic Architecture has collated a wide range of evidence to map and reconstruct these sites. It’s being called a pioneering form of “open source archaeology” and has the potential to be a significant tool in the fight against cultural erasure. (...)