The State of Palestine succeeded today, Friday, in registering the emergency site of the Monastery of Saint Hilarion/Tell Umm Amer, in the Gaza Strip, on the List of World Heritage in Danger, during the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee held in the Indian capital, New Delhi.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities indicated in a statement that the site was listed according to the second, third and sixth criteria for World Heritage and received consensus, in addition to a number of technical recommendations that must be implemented after registration to preserve and develop the site’s exceptional global values.
The ruins of the Monastery of Saint Hilarion are located in the municipality of Nuseirat, about 10 km south of Gaza City, at the intersection of trade routes between Asia and Africa, which made it an important center for cultural and economic exchange. It has exceptional historical, religious, architectural and cultural significance, as it represents one of the most important formative sta
tions in establishing the Christian monastic lifestyle in Palestine, which inspired the establishment of Christian monastic centers and monasteries in the Holy Land and the Middle East during the fourth century AD at the beginning of the Byzantine period in Palestine.
This monastery continued to be used and developed until the 8th century AD. The Monastery of Saint Hilarion appears on the 6th century Madaba mosaic map as Tabata.
It is the largest archaeological site in the Middle East since the Byzantine era, and one of the most important and oldest monasteries in Palestine and the Levant, including church structures and archaeological artifacts, including exceptional mosaics. The floors also include Greek inscriptions decorated with circular motifs.
The Monastery of St. Hilarion was an important stop at the crossroads between Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia, a site of important exchange of universal human and religious values ??and the origin of Christianity in Palestine.
Minister of Tourism and
Antiquities Hani Al-Hayek praised UNESCO’s emergency decision to register the site on the World Heritage in Danger List, considering it an integral part of the distinctive Palestinian heritage of exceptional human value.
Al-Haik added that this urgent and urgent registration comes within the instructions of President Mahmoud Abbas and the efforts of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian government headed by Muhammad Mustafa to preserve the Palestinian cultural heritage in the Gaza Strip in light of the barbaric war and genocide that our people are being subjected to, which has led to the martyrdom and injury of tens of thousands, and which has destroyed more than 100 heritage, archaeological and cultural sites, completely or partially.
The Minister stressed the importance of this registration on the World Heritage List, which expresses international recognition of the importance of Palestinian heritage and the sovereignty of the State of Palestine over its land and heritage. It grants the site internat
ional protection and helps in its development and promotion as one of the oldest monasteries in the world. It also shows the importance and influence of Saint Hilarion and his role in establishing monasticism in Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean in the fourth century AD, which contributed to the spread of Christian monastic practices and traditions in Palestine and abroad.
Al-Hayek appreciated the role of all international and local partners who contributed with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to achieve this accomplishment, especially the members of the World Heritage Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, the Permanent Delegation of Palestine to UNESCO, the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, and the Embassy of the State of Palestine in New Delhi, stressing the need to continue these efforts to preserve the site and its exceptional global values ??and to make all necessary efforts to implement the recommendations of the World Heritage Commi
ttee to remove it from the List of World Heritage in Danger to the Regular List.
Thus, the site of the Monastery of Saint Hilarion in Tell Umm Amer has inscribed its name as the sixth Palestinian World Heritage Site on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and as one of the most important and oldest monasteries that contributed to the establishment and prosperity of Christian monastic centers and traditions in Palestine and the Middle East, immortalizing the name of Saint Hilarion, and as an important imprint of Palestine’s exceptional contributions to the development of human history with unique global values.
In turn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomed the decision to urgently include the site of the Monastery of Saint Hilarion/Tel Umm Amer in the Gaza Strip on the list of World Heritage in Danger.
The ministry explained that the decision to list came at the meeting on the World Heritage Convention and the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (The Hague Conventio
n) and within the commitment to the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. This listing deals with the protection of cultural heritage and antiquities in armed conflict and occupation from damage and destruction and from all forms of emerging threats and conducting an investigation into the threats that affected the site with a periodic assessment of the state of exceptional value.
The Ministry indicated that the inclusion of the Tell Umm Amer/St. Hilarion Monastery site came as a result of the Palestinian diplomatic and technical effort to preserve the cultural rights of all the Palestinian people and protect them from threats in light of the ongoing fierce Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.
She stressed that this listing confirms the protection of the unique universal value of the site, reveals the historical origins of the Palestinian people, and is evidence of the depth and antiquity of the Palestinian presence in their land.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate
s expressed the importance of preserving the World Heritage Sites in Palestine from the deliberate attempts of destruction by the Israeli occupation authorities, and stressed that the cultural and natural World Heritage Sites should not be targeted, bombed and destroyed by the Israeli occupation forces, and that there is a need to protect the cultural and heritage properties, World Heritage Sites, and Palestinian holy and historical sites from the dangers of the Israeli war that directly targets the memories, history and identity of the Palestinian people, and the occupation’s attempt to destroy, distort and falsify history and narrative.
She stressed that the inclusion of the site should prevent the occupying state from deliberately destroying or harming cultural property in any way, under penalty of international criminal responsibility. The use of cultural property under enhanced protection and registered on the List of World Heritage in Danger as military objectives is a grave violation of the provisions
of the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention and constitutes a war crime and entails criminal responsibility.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates also thanked the member states of the World Heritage Committee that contributed to registering the Tell Umm Amer/St. Hilarion Monastery site on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger, as well as all national bodies and international experts.
Source: Maan News Agency