TAIWAN

Archaeologists Find 4,000-Year-Old Snake Artifact Possibly Used in Rituals

Published Feb 18, 2024 
By Aristos Georgiou
Science and Health Reporter

Archaeologists have discovered a snake-shaped artifact made around 4,000 years ago that was possibly used in ancient rituals.

A team of researchers from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan uncovered the item at a sand dune site on the island's northwest coast, located within Guanyin District in western Taoyuan city.

The coastal site has yielded a number of archaeological finds dating back to Taiwan's prehistory. These include a newly discovered, large-scale stone tool processing area, Hung-Lin Chiu, an associate professor with the Institute of Anthropology at Tsing Hua, told Newsweek. Many stone cores and flakes have been found in this area.

The snake artifact find was first announced on a Facebook page dedicated to sharing archaeology news from the university, with a post describing it as an "important" discovery in Taoyuan city.

The 4,000-year-old snake-shaped artifact found in Guanyin District, Taiwan. Archaeologists believe the artifact may have come from a pottery vessel that was used in ancient rituals.

NATIONAL TSING HUA UNIVERSITY

The researchers employed radiocarbon-dating techniques to determine the age of the snake-shaped artifact, finding that it was around four millennia old.

The artifact appears to be a handle that once formed part of some form of pottery vessel, according to the Tsing Hua team.

"This 4,000-year-old 'snake-shaped pottery handle'... has a vivid figure, like a cobra, with its head raised and the skin folds of its head and neck bulging. We believe this incomplete artifact may have been pottery used for ritual purposes," Chiu said.

Snake iconography is a common feature in the symbolism of many ancient societies in the East Asian region—and indeed, other parts of the world.

"Snakes are often regarded as symbolic animals in religion, mythology and literature, and are considered to be the bridge between heaven and man," Chiu said.

Given their ability to shed their skin, ancient societies in the region associated these animals with the cycle of life and death, and considered them to be symbols of creation and transition.

The snake-shaped pottery handle may have come from a sacrificial vessel for shamans in ancient tribal societies to perform rituals, according to the researchers.

"This reflects that ancient societies incorporated animal images into ritual sacrificial vessels to demonstrate their beliefs and cognitive systems," Chiu said.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

Guanyin District

A map shows the location of Guanyin District, in Taoyuan, Taiwan. The dune site is located in this district, on the northwest coast of the island.

Map: Ian Randall Created with Datawrapper

Last September, archaeologists in Mexico announced the discovery of an ancient Maya artifact featuring a depiction of a serpent.

The stone block was used by the Maya as the cover of a vault, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History said. Researchers found the stone artifact in the Acropolis, or royal palace, of Ek' Balam, an ancient Maya city in the municipality of Temozón, Yucatán state.

And in December, a study reported the discovery of a bronze artifact created around 1,200 years ago that depicts a snake devouring a frog-like creature.

The object, a type of belt fitting, was uncovered during metal-detecting prospection near the town of Břeclav in the South Moravia region of the Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, a landlocked country in Central Europe.

Poland launches Pegasus spyware probe

A new commission aims to hear from top officials from the previous Law and Justice party government.


A Polish investigation commission now aims to quiz top officials from the former PiS government, including party chief Jarosław Kaczyński 

| Sean Gallup/Getty Images

FEBRUARY 19, 2024 
BY WOJCIECH KOŚĆ


WARSAW — The Polish parliament on Monday launched an investigation into whether the former government misused Pegasus hacking software to spy on its political opponents.

Setting up the Pegasus probe was one of the current government’s top campaign pledges ahead of October's general election.

The use of the Israeli surveillance software was brought to light through an investigation by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, a digital security nonprofit.

Poland was one of four countries, along with Hungary, Spain, and Greece, where it was reported that the spyware was used against the political opposition, members of civil society and journalists.

A Polish investigation commission now aims to quiz top officials from the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, including party chief Jarosław Kaczyński.

Kaczyński has previously confirmed the government's possession of the Pegasus hacking software. But he has consistently denied it was used against opposition politicians during the 2019 parliamentary election campaign.

“It’s all overblown,” Kaczyński said last week. "Everything … was in line with Polish national interest, with the needs of the security services to combat crime and espionage.”

The ruling coalition alleges PiS used Pegasus both to spy on its enemies and to keep an eye on its own members.

"The scale of [the] surveillance is shocking," Justice Minister Adam Bodnar told the Oko.press news outlet.

Other top officials facing a summons to appear before the commission include former PiS Prime Minister Beata Szydło, former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, and former PiS MPs Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik — who headed the interior ministry and were recently pardoned by President Andrzej Duda following their conviction in an old corruption case.

Kamiński denounced the commission as "a political game with Poland's security," adding: "The secret service always acted in accordance with the law. I look forward to presenting the truth to the public as soon as possible."

Magdalena Sroka, the MP heading the commission, told reporters after the first meeting of the panel: “Too long we’ve been lied to about Pegasus by PiS and we’re going to get to the bottom of it now."

Krzysztof Brejza, an MEP for Tusk's Civic Coalition whose phone was allegedly hacked when he ran the party's campaign in 2019, will also appear.

“This commission will determine not just the people responsible for the use of Pegasus but also [the] people who were attacked: politicians, lawyers, journalists, and ordinary people,” Sroka said.

‘This hunger is too much’: Nigerians protest economic hardship

AFP
February 19, 2024


The president's reforms have hit Nigerians hard - Copyright AFP SAMUEL ALABI
Quadri Taiwo

Hundreds of Nigerians demonstrated against the soaring cost of living in the south of the country on Monday after huge protests in the north earlier this month.

Nigeria is suffering an economic crisis and soaring prices have left many people struggling to afford food.

Demonstrators in the southwestern city Ibadan were furious with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

Watched over by armed police and soldiers, the protesters closed a road and chanted, carrying signs that said “End bad government”, “End food scarcity” and “End Nigerian hardship”.

“This hunger is too much,” said 26-year-old student Olaide Alamu.

“It’s not been like this before… we are starving.

“Tinubu should do something… he promised to do better. Look at us now.”

After coming to office last year Tinubu ended a fuel subsidy and currency controls, leading to a tripling of petrol prices and a spike in living costs as the naira has slid against the dollar.

Tinubu has repeatedly called for patience to allow his reforms to take effect, saying they will help attract foreign investment, but the measures have hit Nigerians hard.

– Call for urgent action –


The country’s inflation rate reached almost 30 percent in January, according to the national bureau of statistics.

Many poor Nigerians have had to give up products considered a luxury, such as meat, eggs and milk.

Dire conditions in the north have sparked protests in several cities including Suleja near the capital Abuja, Minna in Niger State, and the economic hub of Kano.

The crisis has forced people in the north to skip meals and eat poor-grade rice used as fish food.

To feed their children, women have even resorted to digging up anthills in search of grain stored by the insects, according to videos on social media.

Earlier this month the influential traditional emir of Kano Aminu Ado Bayero warned that Nigerians faced “economic hardships, hunger and starvation” and called on the president to take urgent action.

Titilayo Olusegun, a 38-year-old business owner at the demonstration in Ibadan said that “if (the president) cannot solve our issues, he should vacate the office.”

“There is too much hunger. We can’t pay our children’s school fees, we can’t pay our rent… it’s difficult to eat,” she said.

“The pain is too much.”

Argentina Faces Unprecedented Poverty Levels


ByJuan Martinez
February 19, 2024

In January 2024, Argentina’s poverty soared to 57%, a two-decade peak, impacting 27 million people in the country.

The situation worsened, with indigence climbing to 15% from 9.6% just months before. Households relying on social aid saw poverty rates jump to 85.5%.

The drop in the peso’s value led to this crisis, slashing purchasing power and living standards.

UCA’s research shows that poverty could have been even more devastating without government aid like the AUH.

Another study by the University of Di Tella estimates poverty at 46.8%, affecting 21.8 million Argentines.

This difference highlights the complexity of measuring and addressing poverty. These alarming figures remind us of the deep inequalities and challenges in Argentina.

They underscore the urgency for a united effort by all sectors to tackle poverty’s root causes and aim for sustainable development.

This situation, drawn from UCA and Di Tella’s findings, illustrates Argentina’s critical poverty state, emphasizing the need for comprehensive and inclusive strategies to combat this crisis.

Background

Argentina’s economic struggles are not new. For years, policies and global market shifts have shaped its economy.

This rise in poverty is part of a longer history of financial ups and downs. Inflation has long been a challenge, eroding savings and wages.

Recent years saw the government trying to stabilize the economy, with mixed results.

The peso’s devaluation was a drastic step aimed at boosting competitiveness but also pushed many into poverty.

Social programs have been vital in offering some relief. However, to truly address poverty, Argentina needs sustained economic growth and fairer wealth distribution.

These steps are crucial for moving towards a more stable and equitable future for all Argentines.

Petro’s Upcoming Reform Marathon in Colombia


ByJuan Martinez
February 19, 2024

President Gustavo Petro’s government is now at a crucial point, facing the task of pushing through three major social reforms in Congress over the next four months.

The administration is determined to rally enough support in both the Senate and the House.

The health reform, Petro’s main legislative focus, faces a tight deadline of June 20 for two crucial debates to prevent defeat, which would be a major setback.

Navigating this legislative path involves overcoming significant hurdles, especially as key parties that once supported the government have withdrawn their backing.

Despite criticism from prominent figures like former President César Gaviria, allies such as Senator Martha Peralta and Wilson Arias in the Senate’s Seventh Committee are crucial.

Petro’s Upcoming Reform Marathon. (Photo internet reproduction)

The government faces tight timelines for pension reform, with less pushback, and must quickly progress labor reform.

Petro plans to reform the justice system, public services, and possibly taxes, complicating consensus-building in Congress.

This period is critical not only for passing reforms but also for prioritizing amidst a full legislative agenda.

It highlights the government’s ambition and the intricate process of negotiating with Congress.
A significant shift in Colombia’s political scene

Gustavo Petro’s presidency represents a significant shift in Colombia’s political scene as the first left-wing government in recent history, elected in 2022.

His victory signaled a public demand for major social and economic reforms, aiming to tackle issues like inequality, healthcare, and labor rights.

This agenda seeks profound societal changes, challenging established norms.

Petro’s reforms unfold against Colombia’s challenging history of conflict, peace, and debates on justice and development.

His progressive stance notably contrasts with the country’s traditional conservative-centrist politics.

 

Auto parts supplier Forvia to cut staff in Europe

By

 AFP

French-German auto parts manufacturer Forvia announced plans to cut 13 percent of its workforce in Europe over the coming years in an effort to boost competitiveness and profitability in a sluggish and shifting car market.

The company, created in 2022 from the merger of France’s Faurecia and Germany’s Hella, returned to profit in 2023 but unveiled the plan to achieve 500 million euros ($540 million) in savings by 2028.

Forvia’s announcement follows job cuts announced by a number of its rivals as suppliers adjust to an auto industry that has yet to fully recover from the Covid pandemic but is also in the midst of shifting to electric vehicles that will eliminate the need for certain products like mufflers.

Forvia’s management said up to 10,000 of its 75,500 posts in Europe could go by 2028, with a lower recourse to interim staff and the use of Artificial Intelligence to optimise research and development.

In addition to France and Germany the company also has sites in the Czech Republic, Poland and Spain.

“All sites will be affected but not in the same manner,” Forvia’s chief operating officer Olivier Durand said at a news conference.

“We’ve had a drop in the European market and we don’t see an improvement in the short or medium term,” said Durand, adding that certain of Frovia’s facilities are not working at full capacity.

“Our industry shifts regularly and we know how to adjust our industrial capacity,” he added.

The plan also aims to make Forvia less dependent upon China, where it makes 27 percent of its sales but most of its profits.

The company posted a net profit of 222 million euros in 2023, with sales rising nearly 11 percent to 27.2 billion euros.

Forvia, which took on debt as part of its merger with Hella, reduced its debt by nearly one billion euros last year to nearly seven billion.

Investors welcomed the company’s announcement with Forvia’s shares rising 4.7 percent in early trading while the Paris SBF 120 index slid 0.3 percent lower.

 

Germany likely to fall into recession: central bank

By

 AFP

German output is likely to shrink slightly in the first quarter, sending Europe’s top economy into recession as it battles multiple crises, the country’s central bank warned Monday.

The German economy has been struggling since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine sent inflation soaring, with the crisis compounded by an industrial slowdown and weakness in key trading partners.

After contracting 0.3 percent in the final quarter of 2023, output is “likely to once again decline slightly” from January to March, the Bundesbank said in its monthly report.

“This second consecutive decline in economic output would put the German economy into a technical recession.”

The central bank listed a litany of problems facing the export powerhouse, from slowing foreign demand to constrained consumer spending and domestic investment. 

The economy may also be impacted by a wave of recent strikes, particularly those in the rail and aviation sectors, it said. 

However it added there was “still no evidence of a recession in the sense of a persistent, broad-based and distinct drop in economic activity, nor is such a recession currently on the cards”.

A robust labour market, rising wages and slowing inflation would provide support, it said. 

Following a series of interest rate hikes, German inflation slowed to 2.9 percent in January — not far off the European Central Bank’s two-percent target.

The German economy shrank 0.3 percent across the whole of last year. While it is expected to rebound this year, observers have recently been cautioning the recovery may be slower than previously expected. 

In December, the Bundesbank slashed its 2024 growth forecast to 0.4 percent, from a prediction of 1.2 percent in June.

French mayors face violence and intimidation from xenophobic far-right groups


A woman walks down a street in the village of Callac, France, where Mayor Jean-Yves Rolland in December gave up on his plan to house seven to 10 refugee families, bending to far-right opposition.
(Mathieu Pattier / Associated Press)

BY ELAINE GANLEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS

FEB. 19, 2024 

SAINT-BREVIN-LES-PINS, France —

The mayor of a small resort town on the Atlantic coast of France resigned, closed his medical practice and moved away after his house and two cars were set on fire. The arson followed months of death threats over plans to relocate a refugee center near a school.

More than 150 miles to the north, trouble visited another mayor when he decided to take in a handful of refugee families. The aim was to fill job vacancies in the village; instead, he received a torrent of abuse. One threat read: “I hope, Mr. Mayor, that your wife will be raped, your daughter will be raped, and your grandchildren sodomized.”

These were not isolated incidents.

Mayors, normally among the most appreciated elected officials in France, are under attack as never before. Opposition to immigration is a driving force, led by small extreme-right groups that are often backed by national politicians.

While other European countries including Germany, Sweden, Italy and Spain have seen protests over similar issues, the backlash against mayors is especially jarring in France. The French have traditionally revered state institutions. A small-town mayor embodies the values of the French Republic, harking back to the revolution of 1789.

The tactics used against French mayors in recent years go beyond the usual street protests and angry public meetings. They include violence and disinformation — and local demonstrations are often amplified by outside agitators.

In France, like elsewhere in Europe, national identity has become a war cry for far-right political groups. They promote claims that foreigners are stealing the riches of the nation through state handouts and that they will ultimately upend France’s traditional way of life.

France’s internal security agency, the DGSI, is increasingly worried about fringe movements and their potential for violence, both on the far right and the far left.

Fat-right groups became more active after deadly attacks by Islamic extremists in 2015 and 2016. One of their goals is to “precipitate a clash” over those viewed as outsiders, then-DGSI chief Nicolas Lerner said in a rare interview with Le Monde last year.

“The normalization of a recourse to violence, and the temptation to want to impose ideas through fear or intimidation, is a grave danger to our democracies,″ he said.

The violent views of the radical right in the U.S. have spread to Europe and been amplified through social media, said Lerner.

Topics debated by political parties, like migration, tend to “channel energy,” he said.

Far right on the rise

The French far right first made its mark in 1984, when the National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen won 10 seats in the European Parliament. But the nation gasped when Le Pen, a Holocaust denier, reached a runoff in the 2002 presidential election against the incumbent, Jacques Chirac.

Parties on the left and right combined to keep Le Pen from power then. But today the party of his daughter, Marine, has 88 deputies in Parliament. She plans to make her fourth bid for the presidency in 2027, after twice reaching the runoff against President Emmanuel Macron.

A new party, Reconquête (or Reconquest), has staked out a position even further to the right, calling for zero immigration. Its vice president, Marion Maréchal, Marine Le Pen’s niece, is the lead candidate in elections for the European Parliament in June.

Reconquête’s ambitions go further than just a protest movement, said Jean-Yves Camus, a leading expert on the far right.

“Beyond those anti-migrant demonstrations there is a real political project, which is confronting the state,” he said. While there is no tradition of suspicion of a “deep state” in France, Reconquête’s founder, Eric Zemmour, has emulated former President Trump in taking aim at elites and predicting the collapse of French society.

Zemmour, a French nationalist, has no personal connection to extremist groups, Camus said. “But he says, ‘If these people want to join me and my party, they can be useful.’”

Reconquête is also leading a campaign against the educational system with an agenda to end what it calls the “great indoctrination.” It runs a pressure group, called Vigilant Parents, that tries to keep schools from teaching about topics it deems inappropriate, such as LGBTQ+ rights, and encourages people to snitch on teachers who do.

Many on the far right, including Zemmour, subscribe to the “great replacement” theory, the false claim that native populations of Western countries are being overrun by non-white immigrants, notably Muslims, who will one day erase Christian civilization and its values.

Trouble in Callac

The far right claimed victory in January 2023, when Mayor Jean-Yves Rolland of Callac gave up his plan to house seven to 10 refugee families in his town in Brittany, in northwest France. His goal had been to help fill local jobs and inject dynamism into the isolated enclave with a shrinking population.

For months, demonstrators from near and far, some from Reconquête, converged on the village of 2,200 people.

“They were clearly threatening democracy,” Rolland said, dumping a pile of written threats on his desk in the town hall.

One referred to migrants as “Dealers, Rapists, Aggressors” who should be “returned to Africa.” Another showed a patron saint of France, the Archangel Michael, trampling on a Quran and chasing Islam’s Prophet Mohammed out of France with a pitchfork.

The use of disinformation, including “troll factories” that generate swarms of emails targeting an individual, is a hallmark of extreme-right groups.

Rolland said he received hundreds of angry emails that mysteriously passed through the Czech Republic. Some carried spurious contact details, complicating investigators’ efforts to locate the senders, he said.

“In the end, those contesting came from outside ... terrible extremist groups,” Rolland said.

Mayor’s house burns

Mayor Yannick Morez of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins was awakened in the night on March 22 of last year to find flames at the front of his home while his family slept. His cars were destroyed by fire.

Asylum seekers had been in the town since 2016, but a plan to house them near a school triggered protests that children would be at risk. As in Callac, some of the demonstrators were local, but out-of-towners seized on the opportunity to promote their anti-migrant cause, whether in person or via online campaigning.

Morez resigned and moved away, but his successor as mayor, Dorothée Pacaud, stood firm, and the relocation project went ahead. Months later, the town remains tense; it went into full lockdown for an immigration conference last fall.

“An elected official, a mayor, a deputy mayor, that represents democracy,” Pacaud said. “To use methods like that, what happened in Callac, it’s unacceptable.”

French mayors faced another brief challenge last year: six nights of nationwide rioting over the police killing of a 17-year-old with North African roots. Unusually, the unrest stretched beyond metropolitan areas and reached provincial towns too, supercharged by messages shared by teenagers on TikTok. A mass police deployment brought the violence to a halt.

But the campaigns are continuing, and have touched other towns, too. And another source of tension is brewing. In recent weeks, French farmers have mounted protests across the country, demanding better pay and less red tape, especially from the EU.

The farmers are the embodiment of “la France profonde,” the very essence of what makes France French, that the far right claims to represent. Activists are seizing the opportunity. Small groups of extremists, some members sporting brass knuckles, showed up at one farmers demonstration last month in the southern city of Montpellier.

With elections for the European Parliament coming up in June, the protests are an opportunity for the far right to sow discontent with mainstream politics — and a warning of the possibility of more disruption to come.

Associated Press writers Mathieu Pattier in Callac, France, and Jeremias Gonzalez in Saint-Jean-de-Monts, France, contributed to this report.

Egypt’s Sinai Construction Enables Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza

Palestinians need a respite from Israel’s brutality, but mass displacement into the Sinai would be a catastrophe.

By Heba Gowayed , 

MONDOWEISS

Published February 19, 2024

Maxar satellite imagery shows a view of the construction of a wall near the Rafah border crossing into Egypt on February 15, 2024.

SATELLITE IMAGE (C) 2024 MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES

Egypt is building a six-meter high wall in the Sinai near the Gaza Strip that is reportedly intended to close off an area of eight square kilometers to receive Palestinians from Gaza in the event of a mass exodus. While the construction implies a respite to the brutality of Israeli bombardment for Gazans, their mass displacement into the Sinai would be a human rights catastrophe.

Over the last four months, Israel has devastated Gaza claiming the lives of almost 29,000 people through bombardment and depriving its two-million-person population from access to food and medicine. Protests in Cairo and elsewhere have called on Egypt to open the Rafah crossing, the only border of Gaza not controlled directly by Israel. Egyptian authorities have long maintained the Israeli blockade of Gaza by closing the Rafah crossing more days than it was open, evicting and demolishing the homes and businesses of residents of the Sinai to create a “buffer zone,” and flooding tunnels that were a lifeline for Gaza’s residents.

Since October 7, a “woefully inadequate” amount of aid has been allowed to enter, and a limited number of exits have been authorized. People are desperately fundraising for the thousands of dollars in bribes demanded by Egyptian authorities to permit each person to cross.

It is without question that Gazans should, like all people in the world, have a right to safety from bombardment and freedom of mobility. The wall being built on the Egyptian border, however, promises neither.

Famine Expert: Israel’s Starvation of Gaza Has No Parallel in Modern Times
“The speed of deterioration of humanitarian conditions is absolutely terrifying,” the expert said.
By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT February 15, 2024


News of the wall’s construction coincides with Netanyahu’s announcement of a ground offensive in Rafah, which currently hosts 1.1 million Palestinians who moved to this so-called “safe zone” after being given 24 hours to forcibly vacate Gaza’s north. On October 13, during the same 24 hours as this directive, a document was drafted by Israel’s Interior Ministry describing an ultimate plan to displace Gaza’s two million residents into the Egyptian Sinai.

At the time, Netanyahu downplayed the document as a hypothetical “concept paper.” Egyptian President Abdelfatah El-Sisi also vehemently denied that Egypt would comply with this strategy, while suggesting that Palestinians could instead be moved to the Negev desert “till the militants are dealt with.” All the while there were reports that this displacement to the Sinai was a topic of backroom diplomacy.

We cannot know if Egypt is building the encampment to prepare to temporarily host refugees in the event of a spontaneous storming of the border for which there is a precedent, or whether it intends to comply with yet another Zionist directive at the expense of Palestinian lives. What we do know is that the border is heavily fortified and monitored and has not been breached for over a decade.

We also know that the intentions and protests of Egyptian authorities matter little in the face of Israeli decisions. After all, Egypt is vehemently against the ground offensive in Rafah. It has increased its own military presence at the border, and is even threatening the (unlikely) action of suspending the Camp David Accords if Israel goes through with it.

Over the past four months, we have watched Israel systematically classify civilians unwilling or unable to vacate their homes, such as those who remained in Gaza’s North after the directive, as “terrorists” whose indiscriminate killing is substantiated. Were some people to evacuate to the Egyptian Sinai, to be held in a penned enclosure at the border zone, there is no guarantee that anyone left behind who refuses to leave, or is unable to, would be spared the same fate.

And while it is almost certain that Egypt, beleaguered with its own financial crisis and issues in the Sinai does not intend, nor have the capacity, to permanently accept displaced Palestinians, Israel has consistently and vehemently denied Palestinians the right of return. According to UNRWA there are at least 5.9 million Palestinian refugees globally, the descendants of those who were forced out of their homes between 1946 and 1948 through massacres and forced displacements at the hands of Zionist militias during what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba or “catastrophe.” In November, commenting on the forced displacement of Palestinians from Northern Gaza an Israeli minister was quoted boasting, “We’re rolling out Nakba 2023.”

When news of the “concept paper” suggesting the mass displacement of Palestinians was released, a spokesperson for Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, stated that the displacement of Palestinians outside of Palestine is a “red line” continuing “what happened in 1948 will not be allowed to happen again.”

The architecture of the encampment being built in Egypt, its high concrete walls focused on towards containment, does not indicate the intention of a warm or welcoming reception. Displacement, which many of the residents of Gaza have experienced before in their lifetimes, is its own slow violence. The Sisi government has systematically denied Palestinian refugees in the country rights that his predecessor, deposed president Mohamed Morsi, afforded them, such as free education and healthcare. Despite spending decades in Egypt, or even being born in the country, they experience restrictions on work and aren’t afforded citizenship.

The stability of Egypt, too, may be in the balance. Despite high popularity in the years that followed his ascension to authority via a coup d’etat in 2013, it is reported that Egyptians are increasingly dissatisfied with President Abel-Fatah El Sisi, whose lavish spending on mega projects to keep the rank-and-file military and business elite happy has plunged the country into a severe economic crisis. Many are angered by Sisi’s perceived complicity in the sequester of Gaza and the unwillingness to challenge the Zionist state or break its blockade. Being seen as participating in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians would not be well received.

We are four months into a military campaign that is among the most destructive in recent history. It is one that has seen brutal violence directed at civilians, rendering Gaza the most unsafe place in the world for children. Governments globally, the Egyptian government included, must act immediately to ensure no more lives are lost. That not a single additional person is killed or displaced from their homes. That Palestinians will have a right to self-determination as they rebuild, one that can only be protected by an end to the occupation. None of these objectives are achieved by the mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza into a concrete encampment in the Egyptian Sinai.


HEBA GOWAYED  is Associate Professor of Sociology at CUNY Hunter College and Graduate Center. She is author of Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential.

Laying the Groundwork for Gaza’s Permanent Exodus

With Egypt reportedly preparing for a mass influx and UNRWA on the brink of collapse, Israel’s second Nakba fantasies could soon become reality.

By Samer Badawi
February 19, 2024
Source: +972 Magazine

Israeli soldiers seen near the Gaza fence, southern Israel, January 7, 2024.

 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Since the beginning of Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, innumerable treasures of Palestine’s cultural heritage have been damaged or destroyed. Like so much of the rest of the besieged enclave, these priceless and beloved landmarks of our people’s history — archaeological sites, millennia-old religious structures, and museums with ancient collections — now lie in ruin.

Cultural heritage is an essential component of a nation’s identity and carries enormous symbolic meaning, as recognized and protected by countless international conventions, treaties, and bodies. Yet Israel’s pounding of Gaza, now in its fifth month, displays a callous disregard for these testaments to the thousands of years of Gaza’s rich cultural history — to such an extent that it could amount to cultural genocide.

Researchers are trying desperately to catalog these sites and ascertain their current status, but are unable to keep up with the pace of the carnage. And while the loss of human life is the greatest tragedy in any war, Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s physical cultural heritage achieves much the same goal: the erasure of the Palestinian people. Indeed, many of those interviewed for this article believe this is precisely why these sites are being targeted.
National treasures

Hamdan Taha is a renowned scholar, archeologist, and the former director general of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities in Gaza. In an interview with +972 Magazine after he managed to leave the Strip, he underscored the profound historical and civilizational role played by Palestine in general, and Gaza in particular, despite their small geographic size.

“Gaza has witnessed cultural intermingling where civilizations have intertwined, giving rise to a rich and diverse cultural heritage,” he explained. Taha pointed in particular to Gaza’s port, which for centuries was a major hub of trade across the Mediterranean and a locus of this multiculturalism.




Gaza’s port on January 9, 2020. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)

“Cultural heritage reflects our national identity,” he continued. “It is the witness to the historical and civilizational epochs our homeland has traversed. It’s a national treasure.”

According to Taha, the national significance of these sites, and their potential to bring tourism and lift Gaza’s economy, “led Israel to intentionally tamper with historical and archaeological buildings, aiming to obliterate the connection between the people of Gaza and their land and history.” Israel, Taha added, “wants to disconnect the people of Gaza from the history of the land, while consistently trying to create its own narrative and association with the place.”

During the 2014 war on Gaza, Taha and other archaeologists formed a committee to formally assess the damage caused by Israel’s attacks. They worked to restore and catalog all of Gaza’s antiquities, in part to be prepared for future bombardment. Yet the scale of the current war has overwhelmed their efforts.

Given the continual bombardment of the Strip since October 7, it has been extraordinarily difficult for Taha and other experts to assess the extent of the damage — despite the best efforts of Palestinian and foreign scholars who are monitoring the situation remotely.




Qasr al-Basha (Pasha Palace), the 13th century historic building located in the old quarter of Gaza City. (Omar El Qattaa)


The ruins of Qasr al-Basha (Pasha Palace), February 12, 2024. (Omar El Qattaa)

“Most of the information we obtain comes from journalists and individuals who capture scenes either coincidently or by passing through the location,” he explained. “And we rely on information provided by residents living in the vicinity of the targeted areas and on breaking news reports.” From these accounts, it appears that Israel’s bombing has left little behind.
‘It’s challenging for experts to keep track while being targeted’

One of the photojournalists documenting this wreckage is Ismail al-Ghoul, who is currently residing in Gaza City and reporting for Al Jazeera. He photographed the ruins of the 1,600-year-old Byzantine Church in the Jabalia district, and the Hammam al-Sammara — a centuries-old bathhouse in the Zeitoun neighborhood.

“The last remaining historical bath in the Gaza Strip, with a history spanning nearly a thousand years, now lies in total ruins,” he lamented. “Most people in Gaza have visited this bath and had a beautiful, unforgettable experience. Even visitors to Gaza sought a glimpse of its famous healing and therapeutic properties.”



The ruins of Hammam al-Sammara — a centuries-old bathhouse in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, February 12, 2024. (Omar El Qattaa)

Al-Ghoul also photographed the ruins of the 13th-century Qasr al-Basha (Pasha Palace), which was distinctive for the remarkable preservation of its architectural details. More than 90 percent of the palace was destroyed by Israeli bombing and subsequent bulldozing, leaving only a small portion still standing.

Despite the devotion of photojournalists like al-Ghoul, the war has made it impossible to document the full extent of the damage. “It’s challenging for experts to keep track while being in a state of displacement themselves, being targeted, and continually moving from one place to another,” Taha explained. “We have lost more than 10 antiquities experts, including four archaeologists.”

Among the other heritage sites that are confirmed to have suffered severe damage is the Great Omari Mosque — the largest and oldest in northern Gaza, with a history which, according to some accounts, dates back 2,500 years. The entire structure has been destroyed, save only for its minaret. The mosque embodied the rich and diverse history of the Strip: originally an ancient pagan temple, it was later transformed into a Byzantine church, and eventually converted into a mosque during the Islamic conquests.



The Great Omari Mosque, the largest and oldest mosque in northern Gaza. 

(Omar El Qattaa)

What is left of the Great Omari Mosque, the largest and oldest mosque in northern Gaza, February 12, 2024

 (Omar El Qattaa)

Gaza City’s Sayyed Hashim Mosque has also been badly damaged. Located in the old town, the mosque housed the tomb of Hashim ibn Abd Manaf — the grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad, who is so closely identified with the city that it is often referred to in Palestinian literature as “Gaza of Hashim.” The Church of Saint Porphyrius, locally referred to as the “Greek Orthodox Church” — which, built in 425 AD, is one of the oldest churches in the world — was damaged too, and one of buildings inside the church’s vicinity was completely destroyed.

Taha stressed that the damage has not been confined solely to the north of the Strip. The Rafah Museum in southern Gaza — the only museum in the area — has been completely destroyed. Al Qarara Museum near Khan Younis, which had a collection of about 3,000 artefacts dating back to the Canaanites, the Bronze Age civilisation that lived in Gaza and across much of the Levant in the second century BC, was badly damaged. The shrine of Al-Khader in the central city of Deir al-Balah, which holds special significance as the first and oldest Christian monastery built in Palestine, was also damaged when an area nearby was bombed.

All over the Strip, Israel has damaged and destroyed secular historical sites as well as those affiliated with Islam and Christianity. Everything is a target.




A mass at the Church of Saint Porphyrius, locally referred to as the “Greek Orthodox Church”, in Gaza City.

 (Omar El Qattaa)


The damage in the vicinity of the Church of Saint Porphyrius, locally referred to as the “Greek Orthodox Church”, February 12, 2024. (Omar El Qattaa)

‘All of Gaza’s history is on the verge of collapse’

Haneen Al-Amassi, an archaeology researcher and the executive director of the Eyes on Heritage foundation that launched last year, sees the destruction of archaeological sites as part of a broader campaign against Palestinian life.

“Archaeological sites are tangible, physical evidence attesting to the right of Palestinians to the land of Palestine and their historic existence on it, from the Stone Ages to the present day,” she told +972. “The destruction of these sites in the Gaza Strip in such a brutal and systematic manner is a desperate attempt by the occupation army to erase the evidence of the Palestinian people’s right to their land.”

Al-Amassi listed numerous significant losses. The ancient port of Gaza, also known as Anthedon Harbour or Al-Balakhiya, which dates back to 800 BC, has been destroyed. Dar al-Saqqa (Al-Saqqa House) in the Shuja’iya neighborhood of eastern Gaza City, built in 1661 and considered the first economic forum in Palestine, was badly damaged too.



Entrance to the Port of Gaza, April 17, 1973. (Nissim Gabai/GPO)

The destruction of these landmarks and archaeological sites, Al-Amassi stressed, represents a significant loss for the Palestinian people — one that will be difficult, if not impossible, to compensate for. “It is impossible to restore these monuments in the face of continuous bombing,” she said. “And with the shameful silence of international actors, there will only be more bombings of archaeological sites in Gaza. All its history and sanctity is on the verge of collapse.”

Even when they are not the primary target of Israeli bombings, archaeological sites are still being badly damaged. Al-Amassi mourned the Khoudary Museum, also known as Mat’haf al-Funduq (Museum Hotel) in northern Gaza, which housed thousands of unique archaeological pieces, some dating back to the Canaanite and Greek periods; the museum was significantly damaged by the bombing of the adjacent Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque.

Similarly, the Khan of Amir Younis al-Nawruzi, a historic fort built in 1387 in the center of the southern city of Khan Younis, was damaged when the nearby municipality building was bombed. The Monastery of Saint Hilarion at Tell Umm el-Amr near Deir al-Balah, which dates back more than 1600 years, and Gaza City’s Al-Ghussein House, a historic building dating back to the late Ottoman period, were both also damaged when nearby areas were bombed.



The Khoudary Museum, also known as Mat’haf al-Funduq (Museum Hotel) after the Israeli bombardment of the area, February 12, 2024. 

(Omar El Qattaa)

The Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has accused Israel of “clear intentional targeting of all historical structures in the Gaza Strip.” Gaza’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities stated similarly in a press release in late December: “The occupation is deliberately committing a massacre against historical and archaeological sites in Gaza City’s old town, assassinating history and the traces of civilizations that have passed through the Gaza Strip for thousands of years.”

Such destruction, whether targeted or not, is a violation of the 1954 Hague Convention, which seeks to protect cultural heritage during both peace and war. Al-Amassi hopes the Palestinian Authority will include these violations in its petition to the International Criminal Court.
A sharp acceleration of longstanding practices

As numerous researchers pointed out, the ongoing destruction in Gaza is of a piece with Israel’s longstanding practices of erasure and appropriation. Eyad Salim, a historian and archaeological researcher from Jerusalem, listed several heritage sites that have been destroyed by Israeli forces since the Nakba of 1948.

“In the Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948, mosques, Islamic shrines, and heritage sites were either closed, destroyed, or converted into synagogues,” he said. “This is a long and extensive issue.”



A damaged church is seen in the depopulated al-Bassa village, in the north. Most of its residents became refugees living in camps in Lebanon. (Ahmad Al-Bazz)

Other examples include the razing of the Sharaf and Mughrabi neighborhoods of Jerusalem’s Old City in the aftermath of the 1967 War in order to create a plaza in front of the Western Wall, in addition to many tombs of righteous Muslims. Salim points out that various state bodies — the military, the Antiquities Authority, and the Civil Administration — have all played a role in this destruction and appropriation.

“To implement its plan to build the ‘Jewish state,’ Israel faces identity, geographic, and demographic challenges,” he continued. “So it attributes [Palestinian] cities, villages, urban landmarks, fashion, food, handicrafts, and traditional industries to itself, promoting them in international fora and using them as part of its Judaizing project.”

Much of this erasure occurs subtly, by simply making it difficult for Palestinian cultural heritage institutions to survive. This is particularly evident in Jerusalem, Salim explained, where the Municipality charges unreasonably high taxes, surveils cultural institutions, arbitrarily demands information, blocks funding, threatens them with closure, and bans any indication of official Palestinian government support for Jerusalem institutions.



The Western Wall and the Mughrabi Quarter, which was destroyed following Israel’s capture of Jerusalem’s Old City during the 1967 War, taken between 1898 and and 1946. (American Colony Photo Department)

What we are currently witnessing in Gaza, however, is a sharp acceleration in Israel’s erasure of Palestinian heritage. And the rapid destruction of so many treasured sites during the first weeks of the war quickly became a concern for archaeologists and researchers across the Arab world.

On Nov. 11-12, Egypt hosted the Arab Archaeologists League’s 26th International Conference of Arab Archaeologists, which was centered around solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Representing Palestine was Husam Abu Nasr, a historian from Gaza who happened to be accompanying his mother for medical treatment in Egypt when the war broke out. Abu Nasr presented a report on the museums in the Strip that had been damaged up to that point in the war, and the League established a fund to support the rebuilding and restoration of all heritage sites and institutions, as well as all educational institutions that have been destroyed in Gaza. It also promised to advise on restoration efforts when the war comes to an end.

“Through targeting historical buildings and sites, archaeologists, academics, and researchers, Israel seeks to erase Palestinian identity, and particularly Gazan identity, and make it devoid of history and civilization,” Abu Nasr told +972. “Israel wants to erase our national memory, to promote the distortion of facts, and fight against the Palestinian narrative.” Doing so, he emphasized, is a violation of international and humanitarian law.



A Palestinian woman sits in front of the damaged entrance to Al-Aqsa University in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 26, 2024. 

(Atia Mohammed/Flash90)

Putting Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s heritage in perspective, Taha emphasized that “human lives are the most important thing, and nothing comes before that. But at the same time, preserving and protecting heritage and culture is an integral component of protecting the people and their spirit.

“Not only the Palestinians in Gaza but humanity as a whole will suffer a great loss if Israel continues to destroy cultural heritage in the Gaza Strip without facing consequences.”

In a statement to +972, the IDF Spokesperson said: “The IDF avoids damage to antiquities and historical sites as much as possible. As documented and presented by the IDF during the war, Hamas’ assimilation into and use of the civilian environment are on a large and unprecedented scale.

“Hamas is systematically using public buildings which serve civilian purposes, including government buildings, educational institutions, medical institutions, religious buildings, and heritage sites,” the statement continued. “As part of the destruction of Hamas’s military capabilities, there is, among other things, an operational need to destroy or attack structures in which the terrorist organization places a combat infrastructure. This includes structures that Hamas has regularly converted to fighting. The IDF is committed to international law and acts according to it and IDF values.”Email

Samer Badawi
joined +972 Magazine in 2014 and covered Operation Protective Edge from Gaza and the West Bank in the summer and fall of that year. He writes about U.S. policy toward the region, Israel-Palestine activism, and the nexus between the movement for Palestinian rights and other liberation struggles. His reporting and analysis have been cited by The Washington Post, featured on Al Jazeera, BBC, and other mainstream outlets, and called "must read" by Arad Nir of Israel's Channel 2. He was formerly the DC correspondent for Middle East International.