Cairo – Ma’an – The head of the Palestinian National Library, Issa Qaraqe, called for the formation of an Arab committee under the auspices of the Arab League, and in cooperation with Palestinian and international institutions, to hold an urgent international conference to protect the heritage and cultural properties that are being destroyed in the bloody war that has been ongoing for more than a year in the Gaza Strip.
This came during a speech delivered by Qaraqe today, Thursday, during the annual celebration of the Arab Document Day, which is organized by the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States in cooperation with the Arab Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives, at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo, in the presence of Assistant Secretary-General Dr. Hussein Al-Hindawi, Head of the Arab Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives Dr. Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al-Tamimi, Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of the Arab League Educational, Cultu
ral and Scientific Organization, a representative of the Minister of Culture in the Arab Republic of Egypt, Dr. Rashdia Rabie, Assistant Prime Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt Dr. Osama Al-Jawhari, and officials of archives and documents in Arab countries.
In his speech, Qaraqe pointed out that the Israeli occupation has destroyed more than 207 cultural and historical sites in the Gaza Strip, through barbaric missile and artillery bombardment, in addition to the destruction of hundreds of archaeological and cultural landmarks, mosques, churches, historical shrines, libraries, schools, universities, museums, castles, popular markets, educational and cultural centers, tourist facilities, and cemeteries, which led to the destruction of archives, antiquities, manuscripts, and records that document the Palestinian Canaanite history in the city of Gaza, which was built more than 3000 years BC.
Qaraqe considered that what Israel is doing in terms of unprecedented genocide in contemporary history is a systema
tic plan targeting the Palestinian identity, memory, history and narrative in favor of the Zionist biblical colonial narrative, and it is a continuation of the war of extermination on Palestinian cultural property since the Nakba until now, pointing out that this genocide is a war crime and a crime against humanity that violates international law, the Hague Convention of 1954 and its annexes, a violation of the Geneva Convention of 1949, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the recommendations of the International Court of Justice, and UNESCO resolutions calling for the protection of cultural property during armed conflict.
He stressed the importance of taking rapid action to save the Palestinian Arab heritage in Gaza and to go to the International Criminal Court to try and prosecute Israeli war criminals for committing these heinous crimes, which are considered a brutal attack on all human culture.
During the celebration, Professor Mai Hammash, a specialist in the field of archival work, w
as honored. She was nominated by the Palestinian National Library for the third category among the elite figures who have made tangible contributions in the field of preserving Arab documentary heritage. In addition, the Director of the National Center for Documents and Manuscripts in Saudi Arabia, the Director of the Moroccan Archives, and the Director of the Information Technology Department in Egypt were honored. The honoring was carried out by the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and the Department of Public Information and Documentation.
Source: Maan News Agency