Damage to Cultural Assets in Lebanon

[RESCUE]

The following letter is being sent today:


Rt Hon. Tessa Jowell MP
Department of Culture Media and Sport
2 – 4 Cockspur Street
London
SW1Y 5DH

Re: Protection of cultural assets in Lebanon

Dear Ms Jowell,

I am writing to you to draw attention to the threat posed by Israeli military action in Lebanon to the cultural heritage of that country. While attention is quite rightly focussed on the appalling human cost of the Israeli assault there are also issues to be considered in relation to archaeological sites and monuments in Lebanon. Both Baalbek and Tyre, the targets of recent Israeli attacks, have been recognised by the United Nations as of international cultural significance through the award of World Heritage Site status, as has one of the two castles in Sidon. In the case of both Baalbek and Tyre, the area designated is much larger than the existing towns and encompasses far more than the standing buildings. Any military action in the vicinity of these towns will inevitably have a destructive impact on archaeological and cultural assets. Beyond the areas recognised as of World Heritage status, Lebanon has a rich architectural and archaeological heritage resulting from its important geographical position in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Israeli government has demonstrated its cavalier disregard for the importance of this heritage many times in the past with sites in Lebanon (notably Beaufort Castle) being destroyed or damaged through military action and deliberate demolition. The profound Israeli understanding of the political importance of destroying cultural monuments and other assets has been abundantly demonstrated by their actions in Gaza and the West Bank (as documented by Robert Bevan in his recent book The destruction of memory; architecture at war). We believe that this is an additional reason for the British Government to demand an immediate cease-fire by all parties in Lebanon and for the protection of cultural assets to be included as part of the remit of any United Nations or other force committed to the region to ensure compliance with the terms of such a cease-fire.

Britain has an important role to play in the establishment of peace in the Middle East and given our long term and continuing involvement in archaeological research in the region, it is entirely appropriate that we should draw attention to this aspect of the ongoing conflict and its place in any potential resolution of that conflict. We look to you to issue a clear statement on this matter and to ensure that it is raised in discussions within the British government and between governments internationally, most appropriately perhaps in the context of the 1954 Geneva Convention on the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict.

Yours sincerely


Roy Friendship-Taylor M. Phil., MAAIS., AIFA
Chairman
RESCUE – The British Archaeological Trust
roy@friendship-taylor.freeserve.co.uk

Chris Cumberpatch BA PhD
Secretary
RESCUE – The British Archaeological Trust
cgc@ccumberpatch.freeserve.co.uk




If you would like to support the rights and preservation of our non-renewable archaeological heritage, please join RESCUE, the British Archaeological Trust, today.

http://www.rescue-archaeology.freeserve.co.uk/

[troll]

Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with the concept-I`m afraid that I find the timing a bit distasteful.On this occasion- heritage for me falls into last place as rampant wholesale murder takes place on a daily basis in the Middle East.Priorities methinks....

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[BAJR Host]

As on Britarch... at first I thought... ah... while real people in both Israel and Lebanon die we are fussing over old sites... then I thought.. no I understand.

Rescue are a group that is designed to safeguard heritage and thereby the only thing that Rescue can make an active statement on is that issue. As people, as groups we can abhor the loss of life on both 'sides' of this conflict. One can't justify israels airstrikes on areas where ordinary people live and in many cases cower... but then, who can justify rockets landing in areas where other ordinary people live and cower in fear... both are wrong if they think this will create a stable society. Terror has two heads and it is the ordinary people who suffer and die.

Rescue are not here to argue or put forward that view.. they are here to highlight the heritage issue.. To destroy heritage is to destroy a people.. whether jew or muslim, to target places due to their percieved importance to one side or tuther is to shake the foundations of who we are and what we stand for... do we ever learn? Lebanon depended on tourism so attacks on locations that represnt the cultural heritage are attacks on the foundations of the ecomomy, and likewise to site rockets in these locations is to invite attack.. I know only too well from Iraq, wher I saw with my own eyes the siting of Scuds in Ninivah, in the hope that the USA would not target such a site (sadly wrong) the losers as ever are the people. Rescue is right to highlight this as an issue, as Rescue.... as people as individuals we can stand up and say the whole is wrong.. on so many levels... Both 'sides' cause damage and death - and I for one cannot bear the horror that both jew and muslim must suffer so that boys can fight a holy war that kills the innocent.

Another day another WSI?

[Chris Cumberpatch]

I take the point made by 'Troll' entirely and did not draft the letter without some concern as to its appropriateness. In the end, my understanding of the role played by heritage in its widest sense in conflict generally and in the Middle East in particular persuaded me that it was a useful step to take and the RESCUE Committee (on whose behalf I drafted the letter) agreed with me. One can debate these issues endlessly I think but as David expressed clearly on both this forum and Britarch, Rescue is an organisation concerned with archaeology and as such has to express an opinion when archaeological assets are under threat. This does not, of course, mean that members of Rescue are in any way ignorant or uncaring of other, more immediately pressing, humanitarian concerns and I know that many are active in such other ways as are available to do what little they can to alleviate the appalling state of affairs in Lebanon.
Chris Cumberpatch

Chris Cumberpatch

[Curator Kid]

These links may be of interest to anyone who followed this debate.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=17512

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,...09,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/st...81,00.html

[BAJR Host]

Many thanks for that update link...


much appreciated

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu