Have archaeology and heritage become weapons of war? Historically and currently, archaeology has been used as a political weapon to eradicate culture, gain power and use reason to harm others. One of the clearest examples of this is the current conflict in Palestine and Israel. To fully understand the complexities of this war, I will look at when the conflict began, from 1948 to the present. The Zionist government has been exposed for lying about archaeological sites such as Masada. By lying about sites, it gives them “evidence” that they have claim to land, causing the deaths of innocent civilians. The saddest thing about this conflict is that a place which has been seen as the Holy Land for more than two thousand years, home to some of the oldest churches, mosques and synagogues in the world, is now a home to destruction, death and conflict. However, it is important to note that no religion is to be blamed, as the conflict is caused by a group of people and not a set of religious beliefs.
The conflict
Since 1948, the land highlighted in white, Figure 1, has been divided up under the British mandate. Israel was officially declared a state, which, as a result, sparked the first “Arab-Israeli” war. With Israel being the victor, more than 750,000 Palestinians were displaced (Center for Prevention Action, 2023). Between 1947 and 1949, more than 400 Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, an action referred to as “ethnic cleansing” (Pappe, 2006). Furthermore, the Arab-Israeli war involved its surrounding territories. By the 1960s, the Israeli government had invaded Egypt, Jordan and Syria. In 1967, there was a six-day war after Israel took territorial control over: the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt; the West Bank and Jerusalem from Jordan; and the Golan Heights from Syria (Center for Prevention Action, 2023). This shows the extent that the Israeli government went to claim the land which they claim is theirs. Years of conflict between Egypt and Israel ensued until a peace treaty in 1979, after 30 years of warfare (Center for Prevention Action, 2023). This is important as it shows that the conflict is not just internal but external, subsequently affecting the heritage of other cultures. The Israeli government continued to push into Palestinian land, causing a series of uprisings. The Palestinian uprisings between 1987 and 1993 led to more than 100,000 Palestinians being arrested by Israeli forces (Amnesty International, 2019). This conflict has continued particularly in the past two decades. Figure 2 shows the extent of the Israeli government’s invasion of the land. However, Figure 3, despite being a very similar map, according to The Washington Post, is an inaccurate depiction. The Washington Post is a political newspaper, relaying information from the White House. Is this map incorrect, or are they saying it is inaccurate because of their alliance with Israel?
This leads me into my next point, that countries internationally are involved in the Israel-Palestinian war. The US has one of the biggest roles, and its impact on heritage due to the conflict will be discussed further. Others involved are Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, the United Kingdom, UNESCO and even celebrities. Celebrities might sound like a far stretch, but many of our lives are shaped by social media. Israeli actor Gal Gadot has been accused of pushing “Israeli propaganda on social media”. Many celebrities have chimed in to give their opinion on the situation, and this has had a significant impact. This has led to huge debates online and, although this has been good to create awareness about the conflict, it is very biased in what is being highlighted. In 2023, Jewish Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp posted a video with his friends handing out stickers which state “Zionism is sexy” and “Hamas is Isis” (Stolworthy, November 2023). This sends a strong message; Schnapp did receive a lot of backlash, but also supporters. Furthermore, they compare Hamas to Isis, but are they saying this due to their attacks on the Jewish population or because of their religious identification and instead being anti-Islamic? More deaths have been caused by the Zionist government than the group Hamas. Statistics show that between 2008 and 2021, the conflict killed 23 Palestinians for one Israeli according to the UN. Social media often creates a false narrative, and it also creates a stronger divide between people. Both Hamas and the Israeli government have caused innocent deaths, but statistically more Palestinians have been killed via the Israeli government.
Now
Furthermore, international groups such as the Center for Constitutional Rights and prominent scholars of international law have debated whether Israel is committing genocide. In 2013, Francis Boyle, a professor in international law, stated: “The Palestinians have been the victims of genocide as defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” (K. Franke, 2016). Sadly, due to the uprising of Hamas, 1,200 Israeli civilians were killed on 7 October 2023, and 138 were captured (G. K. Adams, 2023). In retaliation, Israel killed 1,500 Palestinian civilians in just eight weeks, about two months, and many were children (G. K. Adams, 2023). By December 2023, more than 18,200 Palestinians had been killed since 7 October, and the revised death toll in Israel was 1,147. Furthermore, the Israeli government has military control. Around 85% of its military bases are on Palestinian land, violating humanitarian law and subsequently, this is a war crime (Amnesty International, 2019). This shows the amount of control that the Israeli government already has. Many civilians in the Gaza Strip have relied on airdrops. On 24 December 2023, the Jordanian military carried out its seventh airdrop to the 800 civilians trapped in the church of St Porphyrius. However, Fleur Hassan Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem, in an interview with conservative journalist Nick Ferrari, stated there are no churches or Christians in Gaza. The Israeli government is now not recognising Christian heritage in Gaza by not acknowledging the existence of churches, as well as destroying the majority of Islamic heritage. Figure 4 shows the destruction being caused by the Israeli government, and the blatant attack on religious heritage as well as Palestinian civilians.
Heritage and archaeology
What?
Archaeology and heritage play a huge role in this war. In 2023, a Spain-based NGO listed 104 heritage sites as being damaged or destroyed. Figure 5 shows ten of the main archaeological sites under threat. These sites are even more at risk after the death of a student in the Gaza Strip; subsequent future projects to protect and record archaeological sites are on hold as the wellbeing and safety of students is the priority. This has meant that many heritage sites will not be recorded but destroyed in the conflict. Furthermore, members of the Israeli government blatantly deny the existence of churches such as the Byzantine church in Figure 6. The Zionist government continues to push a false narrative of the heritage and archaeology of Gaza. In 1949, David Ben-Gurion, founder of the state of Israel, stated that “the old (Palestinians) will die and the young will forget” (Hawari, 2022). This is important as at the same time Palestinian villages would have been being destroyed and has now been discussed by scholars as ethnic cleansing. So, is history repeating itself? The consistent bombing of the Gaza Strip has led many to believe that the Israeli government is intentionally trying to wipe Palestinians of their culture and heritage. One of the main factors of the Israel-Palestine war is over the land. By wiping Palestinians of their heritage, but by preserving their own through education and their own excavations while simultaneously destroying Palestinians, it gives the “evidence” that the land is theirs. The Israeli government is not only destroying the archaeology and heritage of the Gaza Strip, but actively using it as a political tool to gain control over the land.
The Masada complex
An example of how Israel has used archaeology as a political tool would be Masada. The site, which had once been forgotten, gained popularity in the 1960s after excavations were carried out by politician and archaeologist Yadin. Masada is known for being a symbol of the ancient Jewish kingdom, until its ultimate destruction by the Romans in the first century BCE (UNESCO, 2001). Furthermore, according to Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus, 960 Jewish rebels committed suicide instead of giving in to the Romans (Nelsson, 2014), thus making Masada a symbol of importance to the Jewish community. Interestingly, because of this, in 1983, Narkis drew a direct line from Masada to the Holocaust, thus creating the “Masada complex” (Nachman Ben-Yehuda, 2014). However, the excavations carried out at Masada have been highlighted by many, such as Ben-Yehuda, as having discrepancies because of the differences in Yadin’s field notes. Yadin was a professional archaeologist and yet ignored science in favour of a myth, a legend (Nachman Ben-Yehuda, 2002). But why? Yadin is a key figure in both the conflict and archaeology. Yadin was appointed chief of staff to the newly appointed army from 1949 to 1952, the same army that destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages, and later became deputy prime minister (Nachman Ben-Yehuda, 2014). This means that there was most likely political interest in ignoring science and believing the mythical narrative. The mythical narrative of Masada has been used to legitimise claim to the land, with use of violence in order to get it (Shapiro, 1992). Due to cases like Masada, in 1986, accusations were made that Israeli archaeologists and historians were manipulating archaeology for political means, highlighting the fact that education is focused on the massacre of Jews (Nachman Ben-Yehuda, 2014). Again, there is a blatant disregard for the heritage of the many other cultures by only teaching Jewish heritage. It again poses the question: is the Israeli government creating an “ethnic cleansing”?
Help?
The Israeli government has destroyed heritage, ignored cultures which are not their own and manipulated their own heritage to legitimise their claim on the land. But what is being done to protect the heritage? We know that many future projects are at risk due to the safety of archaeologists. So, what is being done? In 2011, UNESCO granted Palestine full membership as a state, making it the first UN group to do so (Marweki, 2019). However, this caused more problems, first with Obama freezing all financial contributions and later, under Trump, the US leaving UNESCO, followed by Israel, as they believed UNESCO to have an “anti-Israel bias” (Marweki, 2019). Firstly, this meant that UNESCO lost a large amount of funding due to the US leaving, subsequently affecting heritage across the world due to lack of funds, not just Palestinian heritage. Secondly, Israel has military control and, with it leaving UNESCO, the Palestinian Authority has very little say in its heritage. It allows the Israeli government to continue to destroy their heritage, leaving Palestinians helpless. The current state of the war is unpredictable, and the impact it will have on heritage is unknown.
Conclusion
Most of this article is from research I completed for university in 2023. Two years on, I have watched the horrors unfold. I wrote a similar piece in 2023 for university as it was something I was passionate about and since then the war has continued. As someone who has trained in archaeology, I believe it is important to highlight the role it has played in this war and the dangers of archaeology if not done correctly. It is important that people are aware that it’s not just a pretty building that is being destroyed, it’s being destroyed for a reason, it’s being destroyed to erase a culture. Aid from universities has been stopped due to the death of students, even food aid is currently being prevented by the Israeli government. Archaeology has been used as a political tool to gain “evidence” that the land is theirs, which has ultimately caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Furthermore, the blatant erasure of Islamic and Christian archaeology and heritage gives further credit to the idea that it is an “ethnic cleansing”. Prominent human rights advocates and scholars have argued that the discrimination and violence towards Palestine have violated many human rights protections under international law, with genocide among them (K. Franke, 2016). Overall, the state of Israel has: lied about archaeology as “evidence” to claim that the land is theirs and theirs only; deliberately destroyed historical sites in an attempt to destroy people’s heritage; attacked those trying to record it; and tried to rewrite history.
So, have archaeology and heritage become weapons of war?
