Observatório Bíblico

Em e-mail de Joe Zias para a lista de discussão ANE-2 leio que as escavações arqueológicas de Hazor, Tel Dan e Meguido, no norte de Israel, tiveram que ser interrompidas e o pessoal evacuado, pois a região está sendo bombardeada no conflito Israel-Líbano. Como, aliás, já se sabia.

O e-mail de Joe Zias para a lista ANE-2, de 24 de julho de 2006 12:18, diz: Dear Colleagues: Hazor, Tel Dan and Megiddo were forced to evacuate due to hostilities.

Há também a preocupação, manifestada na mesma lista de discussão, com a situação do Museu Nacional de Beirute, no Líbano, sobre o qual ainda não chegaram notícias.

Leia o relato de um pesquisador norte-americano que estava em Hazor quando caiu o primeiro foguete do Hizbollah na região no dia 13 passado.

 

Prof witnesses rocket attack at Israeli archaeological site

by Garrett E. Wishall, posted Tuesday, July 18, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–T.J. Betts went to Israel searching for ancient artifacts. Little did he know what he would find.

Betts was part of an archeological team that had to be evacuated from Tel Hazor, Israel, the morning of July 13 during a Lebanese Hezbollah rocket attack on the region.

Betts, assistant professor of Old Testament interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said he was standing on top of a hill when he saw one of the rockets explode.

“It was really bizarre because we could hear the explosions all around us,” he said. “All of the cities are built on hills and we could see for miles. I was on top of a hill and I saw a huge explosion. At first, the Israelis who were with us said, ‘Oh, it is just artillery practice.’ They didn’t want us to know that it was an attack. But the smoke was as tall as a 10-story building. Not long after that, they said, ‘We need to evacuate you.’”

Betts and his group were moved to Tiberius, a resort town on the Sea of Galilee, where they saw news of the attack for the first time.

“The Israelis didn’t tell us a lot because they didn’t want us to panic,” Betts said. “Then we saw the news in Tiberius and saw that the attacks had circled around where we were.

“To be honest, it is hard to describe. It was so different from anything I had experienced before. I can honestly say for the whole group that no one was frightened until we saw the news. Then we realized that we had been in a somewhat dangerous situation and hadn’t even realized it.

“I had never seen explosions, except for fun. Having never experienced anything like that, my reaction was more like, ‘Wow, look at that.’ It didn’t sink in until later how serious the situation was.”

Betts was part of a team led by Amnon Ben-tor, world-renowned archeologist from Israel and head archeologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The dig included scholars and students from around the world looking for archives from the middle to late Bronze period. Seth Rodriguez, a doctoral student in archeology at Southern Seminary, was another member of the team.

The group was staying in the region of northern Galilee, five miles from the Lebanese border and less than 15 miles from the Syrian border.

Upon being evacuated, Betts said their Israeli hosts told them they would be able to return to Tel Hazor that night. However, their opinion changed as the attack intensified and the group spent the night in Tiberius. The next morning, the group learned that around 100 rockets had fallen on northern Israel the day before.

The rocket Betts saw hit only one mile from the dig site, and several others peppered the region within a three-mile radius. The group briefly returned to Tel Hazor to gather their belongings before completely evacuating to Tiberius.

At 8 a.m., Saturday, July 15, the team left on a bus for Jerusalem. Six hours later, another Hezbollah attack rocked Tiberius.

Betts said when he first arrived in Jerusalem he was visiting an archeological site near the city when he heard an Israeli F-15 rocket attack on Gaza.

“We thought we would be safe because that was in the far south and our dig was in the far north, so we thought we would be fine,” he said. “I told my family we would be safe, but then the war broke out in the north.”

Terrorist factions had threatened to damage the airport in Tel Aviv, but as of Sunday night, July 16, nothing had happened. Betts flew out that night, and 12 and a half hours later he arrived safely in Atlanta.

Betts left for Israel June 27, planning on working at the dig site for three weeks. Other members of the group had scheduled to work six weeks and were only halfway done when the Hezbollah attacks began. Betts said those members have remained in Jerusalem to see if they would be able to return to the dig site. Rodriguez is scheduled to return to the United States July 19.

Conflict erupted on July 12 when Hezbollah guerrillas killed eight Israeli soldiers and captured two others in cross-border attacks from Lebanon. Since that time, both sides have launched offensives — including Israel’s attack on Beirut and Hezbollah’s barrage of Haifa — leaving scores dead on each side.

Bombardeios no Líbano causam catástrofe ecológica

Os bombardeios israelenses sobre o Líbano, que já completaram dez dias consecutivos, provocaram uma crise humanitária e também uma catástrofe ecológica, com uma maré negra se estendendo ao longo da costa libanesa.

A mancha, que vai de norte a sul, foi formada pelo combustível que vazou das instalações bombardeadas por Israel, como a central elétrica de Yieh, poucos quilômetros ao sul de Beirute.

“A camada de óleo que contamina as praias de Beirute e do resto do Líbano vazou dos navios, das centrais elétricas bombardeadas e dos navios de guerra israelenses atingidos pelo ataque do Hizbollah”, afirmou o prefeito de Beirute, Abdel Melhem Ariss.

O ministro do Meio Ambiente, Yacub al-Sarraf, denunciou a “grande catástrofe ecológica, que ameaça a fauna e a flora”. Até agora, ainda não há uma avaliação da extensão exata da camada. “Entramos em contato com a ONU, com a Rempac [organização do Mediterrâneo] e com o Kuwait, que prometeu fornecer produtos químicos para absorver os combustíveis (cont.)

Fonte: da Efe, em Beirute – Folha Online: 22/07/2006

ASOR e AIA pedem a Israel e ao Líbano que preservem cidades históricas que são Patrimônio Cultural da Humanidade.

Duas entidades norte-americanas alertam os combatentes no atual conflito Israel-Líbano para a necessidade de proteger os sítios arqueológicos que podem ser atingidos e danificados pelos bombardeios em curso.

A ASOR – American Schools of Oriental Research – e o AIA – Archaeological Institute of America – urgem que os combatentes honrem a Convenção de Haia de 1954, sobre a proteção dos bens culturais em regiões de conflito armado. Israel e Líbano são signatários desta Convenção.

As duas entidades constataram que, no Líbano, as cidades romanas de Baalbek e de Tiro, o sítio arqueológico fenício de Biblos e a cidade de Anjar correm grandes riscos, enquanto que, em Israel, os sítios arqueológicos de Meguido e de Hazor e a antiga Acre da época das Cruzadas estão na mesma situação. Estes locais são Patrimônio Cultural da Humanidade.

Também o governo libanês, através do Ministro da Cultura Tarek Mitri, apelou à UNESCO, pedindo proteção para os ameaçados sítios de Baalbek e Tiro.

Archaeologists Call on Mid-East Combatants To Honor Hague Convention of 1954

The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) deplore the loss of innocent life in northern Israel and Lebanon and profoundly wish for a quick resolution of the armed hostilities in the area. We also urge all parties to the conflict to honor the terms of the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the principles of customary international law to protect the region’s rich archaeological, cultural and historic heritage. The Hague Convention calls on parties to armed conflict to avoid targeting of, and to minimize damage of, such cultural artifacts as monuments, sites and antiquities. The region of the Levant, encompassing the modern states of Israel and Lebanon, is rich in cultural remains of many time periods, including occupation sites of early man, sites of the Biblical period, Phoenician, Hellenistic and Roman eras, and sites of the Crusader, Byzantine, Islamic and Ottoman Turkish periods. This region embodies much of the early history of the three great religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and contributed significantly to the development of the ancient cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean. Numerous sites in northern Israel and Lebanon have been inscribed on the World Heritage List and thus have been recognized for their contribution to human religious, historical and cultural values. Their preservation is an international priority. World Heritage sites include the Biblical sites of Megiddo and Hazor and the Crusader Old City of Acre in northern Israel. In Lebanon, the Roman cities of Baalbek and Tyre, the Phoenician site of Byblos and the Umayyad city of Anjar are also inscribed on the World Heritage List. These sites are all located within the area of military conflict and are therefore at great risk.

Amnistía Internacional – Comunicado de Prensa

18 de julio de 2006

ONU: El Consejo de Seguridad debe adoptar medidas urgentes para proteger a la población civil en el conflicto de Israel y Líbano

Amnistía Internacional ha instado hoy, 18 de julio de 2006, al Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas a reunirse con carácter de urgencia con el fin de adoptar medidas para proteger a la población civil atrapada en el conflicto cada vez más profundo de Israel y el Líbano. La organización deplora que los Estados miembros del G-8 no hayan puesto la protección de la población civil por encima de la política en sus deliberaciones sobre el conflicto y condena la continuidad de los ataques contra civiles tanto por parte de Israel como de Hezbolá (Partido de Dios).

“En los últimos días se han intensificado de manera terrible los ataques contra la población civil y las infraestructuras civiles. Sin embargo, ha sido notorio que los dirigentes del G-8 no han hecho honor a su obligación moral y legal de abordar unas violaciones tan flagrantes del derecho internacional humanitario, que en algunos casos son equiparables a crímenes de guerra”, ha manifestado Malcolm Smart, director del Programa Regional para Oriente Medio y el Norte de África de Amnistía Internacional.

“Más allá del ejercicio de atribución de culpabilidades, lo que se necesita son propuestas concretas de acciones urgentes para poner fin a los homicidios de civiles tanto en el Líbano como en Israel”.

En concreto, Amnistía Internacional ha hecho un llamamiento al Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU para que autorice y despliegue de inmediato una misión de investigación de las Naciones Unidas en el Líbano e Israel con el fin de investigar los ataques contra la población civil y contra objetivos civiles y otras violaciones del derecho internacional humanitario. La misión de la ONU debe hacer recomendaciones concretas sobre las medidas que las partes implicadas deben adoptar para salvar vidas de civiles, incluida la consideración de si es necesario reforzar la Fuerza Provisional de las Naciones Unidas en el Líbano (FPNUL) que ya existe o desplegar una fuerza internacional de mantenimiento de la paz distinta, a fin de garantizar la protección efectiva de la población civil y de las infraestructuras civiles. La organización ha pedido asimismo al Consejo de Seguridad que ordene la suspensión de todos los suministros militares a Israel y Hezbolá hasta que todas las partes introduzcan las medidas apropiadas para garantizar que la población civil y los objetivos civiles no son atacados.

La misión de investigación de la ONU debe estar dotada de recursos adecuados. Deben llevarla a cabo investigadores imparciales que tengan la competencia necesaria en la realización de investigaciones criminales y forenses. Deben formar parte de ella expertos en los campos de la ciencia forense, la balística, los derechos humanos y el derecho humanitario. Todas las partes, tanto en Israel como en el Líbano, deben acceder a cooperar plenamente y permitir el acceso sin trabas de los expertos a personas, lugares y documentos.

En el Líbano, la población civil está pagando el precio más alto de la campaña de bombardeos israelí. Según los informes recibidos, al menos 200 civiles, entre ellos decenas de niños y niñas, se encuentran entre los aproximadamente 215 libaneses fallecidos como consecuencia de los ataques aéreos israelíes en el Líbano desde el 12 de julio. En el mismo periodo, el brazo armado de Hezbolá ha matado a 12 civiles israelíes, entre ellos un niño, en ataques con cohetes en el norte de Israel, además de 12 soldados. Cientos de personas, entre las que figuran muchos civiles, han resultado heridas en ambas lados.

Las fuerzas israelíes han llevado a cabo destrucciones en gran escala de infraestructuras civiles en todo el territorio del Líbano, eligiendo como objetivos y destruyendo deliberadamente decenas de puentes, carreteras, centrales eléctricas, el aeropuerto internacional y puertos, silos de cereales y otras instalaciones. Decenas demiles de civiles se han visto obligados a huir de sus hogares, especialmente en el sur del Líbano y en los suburbios de la capital, Beirut.

Hezbolá también ha mostrado desprecio por la vida de la población civil al disparar deliberadamente cientos de cohetes “katyusha” y otros contra ciudades y poblaciones del norte de Israel, que han ocasionado la muerte de varios civiles israelíes y heridas a muchos más, y han causado daños de consideración en viviendas y otros bienes civiles.

Fonte: Amnesty International