Daily Archives: 10 April 2019

  • 26 February 2026·

Saving Gaza’s Cultural Heritage Amid War: The Courage of Local Guardians

By Loay Abu Alsaud Department of Tourism and Archaeology, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine www.najah.eduEmail: loayabualsaud@najah.edu November 2025. The Gaza Strip is often described in news headlines as a land under siege, a place of relentless conflict and humanitarian crises. Yet beneath these headlines lies another, less visible story: the story of a rich and vibrant cultural heritage, threatened by war but preserved through the courage and dedication of local communities. Museums, mosques, churches, archaeological sites, and centuries-old traditions make Gaza not just a political landscape but also a historical and cultural treasure. Protecting this heritage is not only about saving objects—it is about preserving memory, identity, and resilience. The Threat to Cultural Heritage Since October 2023, the recent war…
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  • 26 February 2026·

To Make Things Grow: Reflections on a Research Project

By Dr. Yasmin Fedda, January 2026 Image 1: Katbeh and the first group of students on the opening day of Deir Amr Farm School, 1941 We all inherit stories, impressions, and feelings from the past, and some stay with us until we confront them. My great‑grandfather, Abd Al Ghaffar, was principal of a well‑known orphanage in 1940s Palestine: the Deir Amr Farm School, west of Jerusalem. The school was created for children orphaned during the 1930s revolt against British rule. Many came from rural areas whose villages were targeted by British forces. The school was established by the General Arab Orphan Committee of Palestine (Lajnat al‑Yatim al‑‘Arabiyya al‑‘Amma), headed by the educationalist Ahmad Samih al‑Khalidi and others. Their aim was…
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  • 25 January 2026·

Reflections on “Palestine Through Time: An Interactive Exhibition and Workshop.”

By Anne Caldwell with contributions from Eve Moreton and Charles Philpott On the 29th and 30th of October, the University of Leeds hosted an interactive exhibition and workshop entitled “Palestine Through Time”. We did so with the generous support of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and as a collaboration between artist Mado Kelleyan and the School of Performance and Cultural Industries, with support from two student researchers in the School of History. The exhibition itself was comprised of four main sections: a section on the early history of the PEF, a section that utilised images taken by Kelleyan on her recent trip to Israel/Palestine, a station with a video of her narrating the research process, and the final section, which enabled…
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  • 3 November 2025·

FROM FURROW TO FLYING BOAT: THE EVOLUTION OF BRITAIN’S MANDATE-PERIOD AIR ROUTES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Thanks to financial support from the Palestine Exploration Fund and with the gracious permission of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, August-October 2025 saw the Desert Air Routes Project (the Project) continue its documentation of surviving physical infrastructure relating to the Mandate-period air routes which traversed the deserts of eastern Jordan and western Iraq between 1921 and 1948.
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  • 21 January 2025·

The Society for Palestinian Archaeology

Part 2: The Restoration and Documentation Project of the Shrine of Emad Al-Din on Mount Ebal, Nablus. By Loay Abu Alsaud Location: Mount Ebal, NablusHistorical Context: Early Ottoman Period to the present dayProject Start Date: April 17, 2023 The shrine of Emad Al-Din, located on Mount Ebal in Nablus, is a significant historical and religious site from the early Ottoman period (16th century CE). Over the years, the shrine fell into disrepair due to neglect, theft, and looting by treasure hunters, which caused severe damage to its structure and antiquities. Recognising its historical and cultural importance, the Society of Palestinian Archaeologists, in collaboration with the An-Najah National University Nablus as its academic partner, sought the necessary permissions from Ministry of Palestinian Antiquities, and…
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  • 21 January 2025·

The Society for Palestinian Archaeology

By Loay Abu Alsaud. Part 1. The Foundation of the Society The Society for Palestinian Archaeology was formally established on September 1, 2022, with a mission to advance the preservation, research study, and dissemination of Palestine’s extensive archaeological heritage. This organization emerged in response to the pressing need for a coordinated initiative dedicated to safeguarding Palestinian cultural and historical sites. These sites, which hold significant historical and cultural value, have increasingly faced threats from destruction, neglect, and misrepresentation. The Society aims to address these challenges by promoting research, enhancing awareness, and advocating for policies that protect and accurately represent Palestinian heritage. Through collaborations with local and international scholars, institutions, and communities, the Society seeks to ensure that Palestinian archaeology is…
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  • 26 November 2024·

The Zangaki Brothers at the Palestine Exploration Fund – A PEF Research Grant Project

Andrea Coffman, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. It was the fall of 2008, and as a 2nd year graduate student in Photographic Preservation and Collection Management at Ryerson University, it was time for me to choose a topic for my Master’s thesis. I wanted to research photographs available to me in the rich collection at The George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York. It was there that I came across the work of the Zangaki Brothers, 19th-century Greek photographers based in Port Said, Egypt. I am American of Greek ancestry and so their name intrigued me. I found it notable that their loose, unbound prints were not stored in boxes under their name, as is the most common method…
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  • 29 October 2024·

Reflections on ethnographic fieldwork in rural Palestine at times of crises: tracing people and lifeways of Ottoman Beit Loya, Israel

By Roy Marom “Read it not as a dead record of a former world or of an extinct race,” Claude R. Conder implored the readers of Tent Work in Palestine (1878), his narrative of the Survey of Western Palestine undertaken in the 1870s, “but as a living picture of manners and of a land, which can still be studied by any who will devote themselves to the task.” (vol. 1, xxi).
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