Yesterday the New York Times ran a piece about historic preservation in the ancient Syrian city of Aleppo and lamented about how many Middle Eastern nations have demolished historic districts in an effort to expand public space. The article is filled with references to how Islamic fundamentalists detest preservation and would gladly demolish Western and Ottoman architecture and how Arab governments have been negligent:
“In the 1950s and ’60s nationalist governments in countries like Egypt, Syria and Iraq typically viewed the congested alleys and cramped interiors of historic centers not as exotic destinations for tourists but as evidence of a backward culture to be erased. Planners carved broad avenues through dense cities, much as Haussmann had before them in Paris. […] Neighborhoods were sometimes bulldozed to clear space around landmarks so they would be more accessible to tourists.”
Maybe it is not relevant, but if one is going to mention Egypt and Iraq in a story about Syria then Israel’s own bulldozing “to clear space around landmarks so they would be more accessible to tourists” is, I think, salient:
Three days after the 1967 War and the conquest/annexation/occupation of East Jerusalem, Israeli bulldozers [pictured above] were sent into to destroy the ancient, 800-year old Maghrebi (Moroccan) Quarter facing the Wailing Wall in order to establish a “clear space,” to quote the Times, “so [it] would be more accessible to tourists [and, primarily, Jewish worshipers].” Over 600 Palestinians living in the quarter were evicted with the sham “compensation” of 200 Jordanian dinars. And this was done swiftly, families were given a few hours to round up their belongings, to create ‘facts on the ground’ prior to the passing of UN Security Council resolution 242 which called for withdrawal from occupied territories. 135 homes and the al-Buraq mosque, along with the Bou Medyan school were demolished; two years later another mosque and school were leveled. Some Palestinians who refused to leave died in the rubble as homes were torn down. 100 Arab families were left homeless.
Nor is there any mention of the destruction of Mamilla, an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem, at the moment by an American Zionist organization; incidentally the two are connected: the Quarter was established by Saladin’s son and the cemetery includes the remains of many of Saladin’s soldiers from the same era. But such connections are too precarious to make for the Times.
It is another statement about how the U.S. media is often blind to the egregious acts of Israel, while noting them in the Arab world. Somehow when Israel does it it does not merit mention. It seems hard to believe that if Egypt demolished an entire neighborhood in order to, say, provide for space for a Mosque’s campus that it would not be mentioned in an article boosting Syria as “a blueprint for preservation in the Middle East” in a region which otherwise often destroys old centers. Why is a major Arab neighborhood dating back centuries and with a rich history neglected? Would a Jewish neighborhood demolished by, say, Lebanon be unworthy of at minimum a minor note? The identity of who is deemed culturally insensitive dictated the coverage.
