Nearly 10 months since start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, UNESCO has taken action to add an ancient monastery in the territory to its list of World Heritage in Danger.
Among dunes and olive groves six miles south of Gaza, the Monastery of St. Hilarion, or Tell Umm Amer, dates back to the fourth century CE and was the first monastic community in what some call the Holy Land. Thanks to its position at a crossroads on a crucial Asia-Africa trading route, the monastery thrived.
“Characterized by five successive churches, bath and sanctuary complexes, geometric mosaics, and an expansive crypt, this Christian monastery was one of the largest in the Middle East,” the World Monuments Fund says.
More than 200 historic cultural sites in peril
But an earthquake in the seventh century ended the monastery’s heyday and it lay abandoned and forgotten for 1200 years until 1999. Now it is in danger of destruction again. The Palestinian culture ministry reported in February 2024 that Israeli bombing had razed or damaged more than 200 culturally important sites in Gaza. These include the nearly three-millennia-old Anthedon Harbour, Gaza’s first seaport.
Amid fears for the monastery, it was fast-tracked onto the UNESCO World Heritage list with an emergency inscription procedure, and placed on the “in Danger” list the same day, during the 46th session of the Unesco World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, India.
“The situation around the site has deteriorated rapidly, especially at Nuseirat Camp, which is very close. There was a lot of concern about the site so the decision was taken to go for the emergency nomination dossier,” said Raymond Bondin, who led the effort to list the monument, speaking to The Art Newspaper.
Anthedon is one of #Gaza's most important sites, currently on #UNESCO tentative list. Its multiperiod features are found on land, eroding on the coast & underwater. Recent imagery shows a large segment of Anthedon cleared after airstrikes in October 2023 (as well as 2014 & 2021). pic.twitter.com/B4yK8rpBKI
— Maritime Endangered Archaeology (@MarEA_project) December 13, 2023
Access to aid
The listing means the site can now access technical and financial aid, and assistance with restoration as needed. But the decision to list the monastery follows criticism that it has taken so long for the World Heritage Committee to condemn “the destruction or the human toll of this genocide,” in the words of Mahmoud Hawari, archaeology professor at Bethlehem University, West Bank, and former director general of the Palestinian Museum, Birzeit.
More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel and 2.3 million people have been uprooted from the Gaza Strip since Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and took 253 others hostage in October 2023. Acknowledging the scale of the human tragedy, Bondin stressed that cultural heritage is precious to all people. “We all appreciate that the main effort must be humanitarian but at the same time the identity of Palestinians is extremely important to protect.”
Commitment to protect
UNESCO took the listing as an opportunity to remind the 195 states that have signed up to its convention, that they are “committed to avoid taking any deliberate measures likely to cause direct or indirect damage to this site, which is now inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to assist in its protection.”
The UN body also expressed “deep concern about the impact of the ongoing conflict on cultural heritage, particularly in the Gaza Strip” and went on to urge “all involved parties to strictly adhere to international law, emphasising that cultural property should not be targeted or used for military purposes, as it is considered civilian infrastructure.”
