GHA advocates that archeological digs should be subject to reasonable regulation aimed at ensuring site security, the prompt publication of finds and the provision for fair, living wages for local employees.Global Heritage Alliance thinks that the archeological profession opposed to the private collection of artifacts itself is in need of closer regulation to combat the abuses that so often are covered-up. Archaeologists who complain about looting of archeological sites need to do more to make sure that they are properly protected from theft, even when they themselves are not on site. In order to prevent local people who have worked on the digs coming back between seasons to rob them, using the knowledge they gained while working there, should be paid a fair living wage to remove the temptation. All finds from archeological excavations must be promptly published with sanctions against those who do not comply. The GHA should begin pressurising archaeological organizations like the AIA and SAA to make sure these measures towards a more responsible archeology are introduced immediately.
Indeed, though most of the twenty-one (21) comments were supportive of the renewed MOU, virtually all these came from archaeologists who depend on Cambodian excavation permits or their associated archaeological advocacy groups. Meanwhile, it is finally dawning on some in Congress that MOUs have devolved into special interest programs for archaeologists. Significantly, Congressional appropriators have required CPAC to report on the expenditures of MOU partner countries make in securing their own cultural patrimony. Hopefully, this will help change a culture that has vilified collectors to help divert attention away from poor stewardship of archaeological resources by source countries.
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| President Donald Trump and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley |
“The purpose of UNESCO is a good one. Unfortunately, its extreme politicization has become a chronic embarrassment. The Tomb of the Patriarchs decision was just the latest in a long line of foolish actions, which includes keeping Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on a UNESCO human rights committee even after his murderous crackdown on peaceful protestors. Just as we said in 1984 when President Reagan withdrew from UNESCO, US taxpayers should no longer be on the hook to pay for policies that are hostile to our values and make a mockery of justice and common sense.”
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said he had instructed his foreign ministry to prepare Israel's withdrawal from UNESCO in parallel with the US. "I welcome President Trump's decision to withdraw from UNESCO," he said in a statement posted to Facebook. "This is a courageous and ethical decision because UNESCO has become a theater of the absurd and instead of preserving history, distorts it."In the UNESCO response to our leaving, much was made of the work of the organization "to protect humanity’s shared cultural heritage in the face of terrorist attacks and to prevent violent extremism through education and media literacy". The idea you can stop ISIS with books is laughable.
In the modernist but faded headquarters of UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural agency on Paris’s elegant Left Bank, more than a few diplomats wandered the corridors on Friday wondering if the organisation has a future. The agency, founded in the ashes of World War Two to protect the common cultural inheritance of humanity, was due to elect a new head later in the day. But a sudden announcement that the United States was quitting over anti-Israel bias meant that whoever wins the top job would inherit a body in turmoil, with huge questions over its future funding and mission.[...] For some of its diplomats, Washington’s decision to quit represented a corner being turned, and puts even more pressure on whoever is elected to lead it. “This is the most critical election. There can’t be four more years like this,” said a Western diplomat, bemoaning the leadership of outgoing director Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, whose critics say she failed to persuade member states to pay their dues and stop politicizing UNESCO’s work.[...]Without U.S. money, UNESCO, which employs around 2,000 people worldwide, has been forced to cut programmes, freeze hiring and fill gaps with voluntary contributions. Its 2017 budget was about $326 million, almost half its 2012 budget. Including the United States, which has some $542 million in arrears, the organisation is owed almost $650 million, according to figures on its website. At this stage, UNESCO officials still don’t know if the United States will make up its arrears before it officially exits on Dec. 31, 2018.
Other major contributors such as Japan, Britain, and Brazil have also yet to pay their dues for 2017, sometimes citing objections to the body’s policies. “The fact is that UNESCO was all about solidarity and creating a climate for peace between countries, but nations now use their dues to influence programmes,” said a UNESCO-based diplomat. “That needs to change.” Japan, for example, has threatened to withhold dues over the inclusion of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in the body’s “Memory of the World” programme. Russia and Ukraine have been at odds over Crimea, with Kiev accusing Moscow of trying to legitimise its annexation of the territory through UNESCO. “Whoever takes over at the helm has to tackle this head on. They need to find ways of getting nations to talk these issues through, but if they can‘t, then the director-general needs to be able to say ‘no’ and kill these texts,” said a second UNESCO-based diplomat. Unlike at the U.N. Security Council, where five powers wield a veto, UNESCO takes decisions based on majority votes, either of its General Secretariat that includes all 195 nations, or of the 58-member Executive Board. Israel says this creates a built-in majority for states that are hostile to it. Big countries like the United States that provide most of the funding say their single votes give them little input into how their money is spent.
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| Assad crony Abdukarim |
Palestinian and French archaeologists began excavating Gaza’s earliest archaeological site nearly 20 years ago, unearthing what they believe is a rare 4,500-year-old Bronze Age settlement. But over protests that grew recently, Gaza’s Hamas rulers have systematically destroyed the work since seizing power a decade ago, allowing the flattening of this hill on the southern tip of Gaza City to make way for construction projects, and later military bases. There is a clear destruction of a very important archaeological site,” said Palestinian archaeology and history professor Mouin Sadeq, who led three excavations at the site along with French archaeologist Pierre de Miroschedji after its accidental discovery in 1998. “I don’t know why the destruction of the site was approved.”It is among the earliest sites indicating the emergence of the “urban society” concept in the Near East, when communities were transforming from farming villages around 4,000 BC, and it was on trade routes between Egypt and the Levant, The area “was the first city of Palestine to have a city wall,”
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| “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” – of Jews and of Israel. This is an Arab Final Solution |
Since the Arab “spring” with its multiple civil wars broke out, the Kurds are the one nation that have managed to remain united and hold on tot their territory, retaking control and a semblance of independence after decades of repression by the Arab countries who previously controlled their territory. They have been amongst the prime fighters against ISIS and have stayed out of the Israeli-Arab conflict altogether. [...] Last week the Kurds held a referendum amongst its people asking if they wanted independence. The answer of course was a resounding yes. However the answer from almost the entire world (the UN, the US, Iran, Iraq, Turkey) was a resounding “no”, or a hostile neutral silence. The only country that lent its solid support to the Kurdish nation was Israel.We should all pray that Kurds are successful in their bid for independence and that there will be a peaceful solution to this brewing crisis. Shame on the world for denying this brave, big-hearted people their rightful claim to their own territory and self-determination.
But somehow, the Palestinians, who already have independence from Israel, and who run their own affairs, are considered perfectly legitimate when they demand not only independence, but an end to the State of Israel. They demand this loudly and clearly and can be heard in demonstrations across the world: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. This is no less than an Arabic “final solution” for the Jews. In case you haven’t looked at a map lately, the space between the river (Jordan) to the (Mediterranean) Sea is occupied, for want of a better word, by Israel with over 6 million Jews as well as another 2 million Muslims, Christians and other minorities."Hypocrisy: A state for the Palestinians but not for the Kurds or Catalonia" Anne's Opinions 2 Oct 2017
