Gazans struggle to protect antiquities from looting

KHAN YOUNIS: 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 helter-skelter 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 Otoman 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 archaeological heritage, exposing it to looting and destruction.

The 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 let 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 litle to protect Gaza’s antiquities and in some cases actively destroys them. In 2017, Hamas authorities leveled 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 archaeology 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 archaeological digs in the decades it occupied Gaza and did litle to prevent antiquities trafficking. Palestinian authorities governing Gaza since 1995 have “atacked many archaeological 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.

“When they find something, they would hide it or build over it,” he said.

Antiquities plundering and trafficking also remains a problem, said Heyam Al Bitar, an archaeologist 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.

“It’s difficult to track down the trafficking because everything happens in the dark,” she said.

Al Aqqad is one of few trying to save antiquities in Gaza.