Violations of international law—Israeli destruction in Jerusalem
The demolition was a violation of international law concerning cultural property, and a war crime (as it entailed ethnic cleansing an entire residential area). Yet, it was approved by the mayor of West Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek and the President, Ben Gurion. They were aware that, without exploiting the turmoil of war, this project would later have been impossible to carry out. As became established practice, until today, the Israeli government tried to detach itself from the operation, by entrusting it to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and by hiring private contractors to conduct the demolitions. The residents of the areas affected were given 3 hours to vacate their homes, and forbidden from returning to collect their belongings from the rubble. Buses were organised to encourage displacement to other areas of the West Bank or Jordan. Many were directed to the refugee camp in Shu’afat, on the outskirts of the city.
Heritage crimes—Israeli excavations in Jerusalem
In the space of less than two days the entire quarter was reduced to rubble and plans were rolled out to build, in its place, what is today the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall Plaza. The building campaign, however, did not begin before an extensive campaign of archaeological excavations was conducted in the area—excavations that, being conducted in militarily occupied territory, violated the Hague Convention of 1954, and continued regardless of the repeated condemnation of the United Nations and UNESCO. These excavations were specifically aimed at retrieving as much evidence of prior Jewish presence in the area as possible, with an explicit focus on what the Zionist strand of biblical archaeology calls the First Temple Period (9th–7th c. BCE) and Second Temple Period (Hellenistic and Roman eras, 2nd c. BCE–1st c. CE).
#naksa #archaeology #june7 #jerusalemday #palestinianarchaeology #🏺 #Archaeology🏺
