A year ago, Peter Stone, president of the Blue Shield, published a statement addressed to the warring parties in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In it, he asked that their actions take into account the guidelines of the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Armed Conflict. Both Israel and Palestine were parties to the Convention and its first protocol (1954); Palestine also ratified the second protocol in 1999.
In doing so, he called on all concerned to assume their responsibility to protect the civilian population and ensure that heritage would be spared; after all, it forms a basis of reconciliation and enables the building of a common future.
He concluded by promising that the Blue Shield stands ready to assist all those involved in the conflict to the best of its ability to protect the heritage and provide all possible assistance in finding a solution.
The conflict has now spread to neighbouring Lebanon. We cannot help but draw attention again and urgently, one year after this declaration, to the urgent protection of the people and the fate of the rich archaeological and historical heritage in the areas of the Middle East affected by violent conflict.
(Photograph of the Bacchus Temple, taken in 2008; © Vanessa Boschloos)
