Update: The Iraqi Government has ordered the Ministry of Antiquities to entrust the reconstruction of Ezekiel’s shrine at al-Kifl in Iraq to ‘specialised International Authorities’.
Previous posts; here, here and here.
Some encouraging news from the Point of no Return Blog:-
Update: The Iraqi Government has ordered the Ministry of Antiquities to entrust the reconstruction of Ezekiel’s shrine at al-Kifl in Iraq to ‘specialised International Authorities’.
The surprise statement follows a storm of publicity raised by Professor Shmuel Moreh, Chairman of the Academics from Iraq in Israel. The news, spread by the blogosphere (including Point of No Return) and Israel Army Radio, that workmen had done ‘irreversible damage’ to the shrine, plastering over ancient Hebrew inscriptions, seems to have embarrassed the Iraqi government into a damage-limitation exercise of their own.
On Saturday, Iraqi TV and al-Arabiyya TV broadcast a film to show that the tomb itself was not damaged. The Iraqis are hoping that “there will be no more exaggeration about this issue.”
Professor Moreh wants the Iraqi authorities to transfer control over the restoration and reconstruction of Ezekiel’s shrine to UNESCO. It is not clear when this transfer will happen.
The Iraqis may feel that they have deflected international attention for the moment. Unless the world remains vigilant and holds the Iraqi authorities to their word, and international pressure is kept up, the Iraqis may just quietly continue destroying the original features of the shrine.
Please write to Mrs Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO, urging her organisation to take immediate control of Ezekiel’s shrine. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal/processing/forms/contact/en/form.php (UNESCO website)
http://www.bokova.eu/?page_id=66 (Mrs Bokova’s personal website)
Tags: News
January 25th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Thank you, Stuart, for it was a combined effort by the blogosphere, plus the strenuous efforts of Professor Moreh himself, that seem to have led to this encouraging development. However, we are not out of the woods yet – we must keep up the pressure on the Iraqis until the site is handed over to UNESCO.
January 25th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
This is promising. On the subject of biblical archaeology, have you started watching C4′s series on The Bible?
February 4th, 2010 at 4:17 am
yes sir ,
it is better to put kifl site under international control before its destruction by Shait Mazarat.
saleem,iraq,Babylon
March 18th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Merci de partager ca avec les internautes !
April 3rd, 2010 at 4:41 pm
[...] background reading on the Ezekel’s tomb ongoing saga, see here, here, here and [...]