Council has taken the reins there, concentrating on preserving the al-Aqsa Mosque and its environs. Similarly, in Nablus, the municipality has taken on the work of restoring that ancient town. Amiry says the loss of cultural property there is significant, ‘as part of the widespread damage caused by the Israeli army in its re-invasion of Palestinian towns that began in March 2002’. Israeli forces have destroyed much of the Old City. Al-Jubeh, choked up, says: ‘Israeli bulldozers are blind,’ he says. ‘They don’t see historic or cultural value. The damage done to the Roman city underneath is incalculable.’ Hussein says: ‘Our work really took off after the beginning of the second Intifada.’
‘We are a mix … We are an integration of so many styles.’
Clockwise, from top left: Hebron; An-Nabi Salih shrine (Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate); Nazareth: ceiling in private mansion; Safad, North Galilee; Jericho
sami awad, executive Director of the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, echoes this sense of threatened heritage. (RIWAQ is not active in Bethlehem, as the city already has an energetic restoration effort underway.) ‘[The Israelis] are not only trying to steal our political rights, but our cultural heritage,’ he says. Bethlehem suffocates from the IsraelWest Bank barrier as well as the settlements and checkpoints that surround it. However, the doorways of its Old City are works of art, made up of metals, colour and wood from the immortal olive tree. Attempting to preserve their culture’s architectural legacy is a luxury that few Palestinians possess in terms of resources, be these time or finances. But none wish to see their built heritage erode. Thankfully, RIWAQ is on the job. _end Kristen Ess is the pseudonym of the Palestine bureau chief of Flashpoints Radio on the Pacifica Network in the US; she is also the English director and cofounder of the Palestine News Network, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.
Summer 2008 Alef magazine 71