For Palestinians maintaining their land and heritage, which is under Israeli occupation since 1948, became a national priority. The Palestinian Authority has formally moved to register 14 new cultural and natural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage tentative list in a bid to safeguard its cultural and historical sites from Israeli appropriation and attacks.“Palestine is not just a space of political conflict, but a civilisation rooted in human history,” Marwa Adwan, acting director-general of World Heritage at the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, told Al Jazeera.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list“This diversity is the strongest response to attempts to monopolise the historical narrative,” she said, referring to Israeli attempts to appropriate symbols of Palestinian culture and history.The submission announced by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on January 1, aims to grant international recognition to endangered landmarks across the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by Israel’s genocidal war. More than 200 historical sites were destroyed by Israeli bombing in what experts called a “cultural genocide“.The new list brings the total number of Palestinian sites on the tentative list to 24, covering a vast timeline from the Canaanite city-states dating back to 3,000 BC to Gaza’s Old City. The 14 submitted sitesThe Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities confirmed the full list of sites submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list spans prehistoric caves, religious routes, and modern architecture. The sites are: Advertisement
The historic centre of Gaza, including the Great Omari Mosque and the Church of Saint …
