SIDA Trustee Benjamin Carey writes on the importance of safeguarding heritage in the Middle East.
Recent reports by UNCTAD[1] suggest that Gaza’s economy will take 350 years to recover to pre-2023 levels, and UNESCO this week is monitoring Israeli air strikes on Tyre, one of Lebanon’s six World Heritage Sites. Elsewhere in the region, Saudi Arabia has been accused of deliberately targeting heritage sites in Yemen, whilst smuggled museum-quality artefacts vaguely described as coming from “Southern Arabia” keep popping up in auction houses across Europe and North America.
Just as the Nazis “burnt the books” in Germany during the 1930s and Russian troops are today destroying libraries in eastern Ukraine, heritage has always been a casualty of war, despite most combatants being party to UNESCO’s 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, more commonly known as the Hague Convention[2].
In the 1930s, the beaches of Gaza were famous and connected by rail to all the great cities of the Middle East. More recently, despite an effective siege by Israel and Egypt, tourism was being revived with fantastic restaurants serving the freshest Mediterranean seafood as archaeological digs uncovered more of Gaza’s several millennia of history. However, beneath the rich fishing grounds, there are gas fields in the seabed claimed by Israel, which has always been unhappy with the 2006 election of Hamas as the political authority in Gaza. Since the start of the current iteration of conflict in October 2023, Israel’s destruction of cultural heritage and civilian infrastructure in Gaza has been almost comprehensive. Even olive trees have been uprooted by military bulldozers, as has so often been seen in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Without evidence of physical roots, it is easier to deny Palestinian rights, despite these being fundamental to British assurances made by Lord Balfour in his 1917 Declaration[3] “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”, which had reassured some Arabs and was foundational to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
International tourism is defined as the voluntary movement of non-residents to another country for a period of at least 24 hours and less than 365 days. On this basis, the Middle East has been doing tourism for more than 2000 years; I’ve been working in the region for a mere 30 years and have seen how, when managed well, tourism can advance all 17 SDGs. Just now, however, there is very little tourism, and my work in the region is about planning for recovery, so that countries can reestablish their visitor economy as soon as peace returns. But the destruction of heritage makes this challenging.
Like poverty, heritage and tourism are political. Commissioned by the European Union to devise a Palestinian heritage strategy for occupied East Jerusalem, I and my colleagues were welcomed by the Palestinian government in Ramallah, whilst provoking curiosity amongst Israeli officials in Jerusalem, their “eternal, undivided capital of Israel”.
In 2005, I was the tourism expert on a USAID-funded alternative livelihoods project with Mercy Corps in southeast Lebanon, bordering Israel and Syria. This involved consulting all stakeholders, which included hoteliers, café owners, shopkeepers, tour operators, farmers, beekeepers, CSOs, government officials, elected politicians and other influencers, such as religious and military leaders. I remember sitting down with a Hezbollah commander, who in front of his staff told me solemnly that he hoped his children would be tour guides and not take up arms. One of the opportunities being explored was developing the notorious al-Khiam prison into a museum and conference centre focused on peace and reconciliation; the prison had been used by the South Lebanon Army and after Lebanon’s civil war had become an important “dark tourism” attraction. The project had potential, but the site was bulldozed by the Israel Defence Forces during their next invasion in 2006.
Commentators have argued that the historic role of Scottish born British Foreign Secretary and former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour in the creation of the State of Israel gives Scottish organisations today a particular responsibility to promote justice for the Palestinian people and to protect Palestinian rights. This might or might not be fair. At the same time, it is necessary to work with all stakeholders in planning for sustainable development; safeguarding cultural heritage is, arguably, the greatest measure of humanity.
Benjamin Carey FTS is a trustee of SIDA and has more than 30 years professional experience of heritage in the Middle East
[1] UNCTAD (2024a), Developments in the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. https://unctad.org/publication/report-unctad-assistance-palestinian-people-0. UNCTAD (2024b), The economic impact of the Israeli military operation in Gaza from October 2023 to May 2024. https://unctad.org/publication/economic-costs-israeli-occupation-palestinian-people.
[2] https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/convention-protection-cultural-property-event-armed-conflict-regulations-execution-convention