The Palestinian National Committee of ICOMOS, established in February 2002, has, as its first official communication to its fellow national committees, the sad task to inform you of the ongoing obliteration of the architectural heritage in the West Bank's largest city, Nablus, by Israeli occupation forces.

The Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian towns and villages, which began on March 29 and is still ongoing, has brought havoc to the urban cores of Palestinian towns, including their culturally rich historic old cities which date back two millennia. The vast majority of the damage has not been the result of crossfire or war "collateral damage." The destruction, which can best be described as cultural vandalism, has been a major military objective, similar to the practices of ethnic cleansing carried out in other parts of the world. Israeli forces have made no distinction between new and historic buildings, businesses, homes or places of worship in their rage of systematic destruction in Nablus, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jenin over the past two weeks.

The greatest damage to Palestinian cultural heritage has been in Nablus and Bethlehem, where even the movement of cars and heavy machinery had been banned inside the old cities to prevent vibrations from damaging the architecture. Israeli military forces have used tanks and bulldozers to cut pathways into the 2-3 meter wide streets, and to remove buildings in their way. F-16 fighters and Apache helicopters have made pinpointed missile assaults from the air on Nablus's Ottoman-era structures such as khans, an 18th century hammam (public bath), a traditional soap factory and a number of exceptional historic family palaces. A side door of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, regarded as Christ's birthplace, was blown out and mosaics shattered by snipers. Jamal Abdul Nasser mosque, on Manger Square, was burned. (at right: Nablus under attack; ruins of a 3-story building.)

Both old cities are well-preserved and together are home to about 40,000 persons. The international community has donated millions of dollars for restoration efforts in Manger Square and elsewhere in Bethlehem to coincide with the millennium celebrations. Nablus, the commercial hub of the West Bank in continuous use since Roman times, had recently carried out repaving, infrastructure renovation and restorations with international and local funds. Most of this careful cultural heritage preservation work has been undone over the past two weeks.

"The destruction of existing buildings is the destruction of multiple cultural layers of civilization. It is not just a crime against Palestine but a crime against world culture," said Palestinian historian and preservation activist Nazmi Ju'abi. "Large swaths of destruction have been 'cleaned' by bulldozers to remove traces of what was once there."

The press, particularly photographers, have been effectively barred from the West Bank, and cities are still under round-the-clock curfews, enforced by Israeli snipers. A handful of relief workers have reported scenes of "flattening," similar to a large-scale war.

The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) clearly calls for "refraining from any act of hostility directed against such [cultural] property." We urge you to protest to your government this robbing of cultural heritage from the Palestinian people and from the world community, in 2002, United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage, for which UNESCO has been designated the UN lead agency.

Palestinian National Committee of ICOMOS
c/o Riwaq@palnet.com