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00:00It comes as the U.S. official tasked with securing a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel
00:04and Hezbollah is due to be in Beirut Tuesday.
00:07Lebanon is expected to give its response to a new U.S. truce proposal during that visit.
00:12The diplomacy, though, has been complicated by an Israeli demand for the freedom to act
00:16should Hezbollah violate any agreement, something Lebanon has so far rejected.
00:22Well, over the past few weeks, several Israeli strikes on Baalbek in east Lebanon and on
00:28Tyre in the south hit close to ancient Roman ruins that had been designated as UNESCO World
00:33Heritage Sites.
00:35A special session is being held at UNESCO in Paris today to try and safeguard Lebanon's
00:40heritage with enhanced protection.
00:43On Sunday, a petition came out calling on the U.N. to establish so-called no-target
00:48zones in Lebanon.
00:49That petition was signed by some 300 prominent cultural figures, including archaeologists
00:54and academics.
00:55We're going to talk more about the cultural threat to Lebanon now with Joanne Farshak-Bajali.
01:00Joanne, thanks for joining us.
01:02You're an archaeologist.
01:03You're also the founder of Biladi Lebanon, which is an NGO dedicated to promote and safeguard
01:08heritage.
01:09I mean, let's start with the destruction that's happened already.
01:11How bad is it?
01:13Hello.
01:14Thank you for hosting me.
01:16Well, the destruction that has been going on for the archaeological site is rather very
01:19bad.
01:21The weapons that are being used, but here we'd like to distinguish that there are two
01:24levels of archaeological sites.
01:26There's the World Heritage sites that haven't been directly targeted, meaning that the bombing
01:31did not include the remains, but the surrounding of the remains.
01:35Here we are seeing the photos of Baalbek, the Roman temples of Baalbek also listed as
01:40World Heritage sites.
01:42And the targeted was for the buildings in the surroundings area.
01:45That was a 400-year-old house that was used in the parking as a place for artisanal.
01:51There has been.
01:52But when the evacuation plan for Baalbek was launched two weeks ago, the temples and the
01:57World Heritage site was not excluded.
01:59And that has put the threat on the site in an extremely high level.
02:02Plus, of course, there's the risk of the continuous vibration movement of the soil of the ground
02:07surface and the surface because of the very heavy bombing taking place around them.
02:13Indeed.
02:14The sites that have been.
02:15No, continue.
02:16Go ahead.
02:17No, I was saying that the sites that have been extremely damaged are actually the historical
02:22houses and the historical souks and mosques located in the villages, then towns located
02:27in the south and in the Bekaa that are not protected, that were heavily, in many cases,
02:32they have just been destroyed and turned into ashes.
02:36So how many civilians, Joanne, actually fled to these cultural sites, thinking that they
02:40might be safer there than in other parts of Lebanon?
02:45No, people have tried to say to take refuge in the World Archaeological Site of Baalbek,
02:50but the usage of the site as shelter was refused to them and they were asked to leave.
02:56So the archaeological sites are remaining, how can I say, unopened to the public to take
03:01shelter in them.
03:02And that was a decision made by the Lebanese authorities to do not allow people to enter
03:06the site and take shelter for two reasons.
03:09One, it will threaten their own lives as if they are to be targeted, they will be targeted.
03:14And then it will cause the destruction of the site.
03:17And of course, doing this act will automatically remove the site from being a listed site based
03:23on the Hay Convention of 1954.
03:27So the IDF, for its part, says that it's targeting these areas because they are both Hezbollah
03:32strongholds.
03:33As far as you know, is that the case?
03:35No, it's not the case.
03:37These are the, here we'd like to distinguish again, whether we're talking about the main
03:42archaeological sites that are located within the historical cities and that have always
03:47been used as archaeological sites.
03:49And there, there was no sheltering.
03:52And whether we're talking about the historical houses located in the villages and in the
03:56nearby houses or the mosques that have been heavily destroyed.
04:00Over there, we can see that the destruction was made on the villages, proclaiming that
04:04there are tunnels under them.
04:06But then we could see on the aerial photography that there was no, the surface did not, there
04:12was still intact.
04:13So there was no tunnels beneath them.
04:15And here we're using for documenting this, we're using aerial photography.
04:19So now today in Paris at UNESCO, there is a meeting that is underway to establish these
04:24so-called no target zones in Lebanon.
04:27Do you think that this will be successful?
04:30We definitely hope it will be successful.
04:32Lebanon is asking, is requesting for an enhanced protection for 34 sites.
04:36And this request with the UNESCO will actually, is challenging all the 1954 Convention to
04:42put in practice a modality of securing and safeguarding archaeological sites.
04:48Plus to this list, there's the no strike list that you are referring to as no hit list that
04:52is being proclaimed and asked for around the world.
04:55So if indeed this goes through and these no target zones are established and there is
05:00a way to better protect these sites in Lebanon, do you think that that will actually be enough
05:04or is the damage that's done already going to have more serious consequences down the
05:08line?
05:09Fortunately, it will not be enough.
05:11It's a very, very good start, but it's not enough because these, we have limited the
05:15protection to 34 sites, but we still have all the historical houses located within the
05:20villages.
05:21That's plus the fact that the damage that have been done already by the heavy destruction
05:26has already caused a lot of damage.
05:28So let's say it's a very good start towards enhancing protection and raising awareness
05:33about cultural heritage being targeted, but more measures need to be made to secure the
05:39rest of the historical houses and then find a way to restore or reconstruct what has been
05:44destroyed.
05:45Joanne, thank you for sharing your expertise with us.
05:47Joanne Fauschach by JALI, thank you.