Struggling to preserve history
Decades of uprisings, war and political turmoil inflicted a toll on Gaza’s archeological heritage.
Walid al-Aqqad’s Gaza home would be the envy of many an antiquities collector.
Pieces of Corinthian columns greet visitors in the backyard. Inside, hundreds of ancient pots and other artifacts hang on the walls or are arranged helterskelter on shelves.
They are remnants of five millennia of Gaza’s history, from the Bronze Age to the Islamic caliphates and on down to the years of Ottoman and British rule in the 20th century.
A sliver of land on the Mediterranean, Gaza was a major trade route between Egypt and the Levant, going back to ancient times. But decades of uprisings, war and political turmoil have inflicted a heavy toll on its rich archeological heritage, exposing it to looting and destruction.
The Islamic militant group Hamas seized Gaza in 2007 from forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. In response, Egypt and Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza that has left the territory isolated and increasingly impoverished. The Palestinians say the closures have also hindered excavations and restricted experts’ access to new discoveries.
Hamas has done little to protect Gaza’s antiquities and, in some cases, actively destroys them. In 2017, Hamas authorities levelled large parts of Tel Es-Sakan, the remains of a 4,500-year-old Bronze Age city, to make way for construction projects.
Ayman Hassouna, professor of history and archeology at Gaza’s Islamic University, blames Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas equally for not protecting the territory’s cultural heritage. He says Israel confiscated artifacts from archeological digs in the decades it occupied Gaza and did little to prevent antiquities trafficking. Palestinian authorities governing Gaza since 1995 have “attacked many archeological sites — either intentionally or not,” he said.
He also blamed a lack of awareness among Gazans of the importance of preserving antiquities and leaving ancient sites undisturbed.
Antiquities plundering and trafficking also remains a problem, said Heyam al-Bitar, an archeologist with Gaza’s ministry of tourism and antiquities. She said the ministry only learned earlier this year that dozens of ancient Greek silver coins were smuggled out of Gaza in 2016.
Al-Aqqad is one of few trying to save antiquities in Gaza. He began his collection in 1975, buying from collectors or searching the beach and new construction sites. Now his house in the southern city of Khan Younis is an archeological, heritage and cultural museum, welcoming school trips and history students.
“This museum was established by personal efforts and at the expense of my children’s bread … to protect the pieces,” al-Aqqad said.