Eight Months On: Still No Transfer of Palestinian Cultural Artifacts to Armenia

Eight months after Armenia announced that it had reached a deal with Palestine  to temporarily house the endangered cultural heritage of Palestine in Armenia, the process has yet to get off the ground.

Hetq has followed the story since Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan, during a July 29 speech at a at the UN Headquarters in New York on the Israel-Palestine conflict, announced that Yerevan’s Matenadaran (the Mesrop Mashtots Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts) will temporarily house endangered Palestinian cultural artifacts.

In response to our latest inquiry, Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that “the legal framework for the implementation of the project and cooperation in this area is in the process of being coordinated with the Palestinian side. The implementation of the project may begin after the relevant document is finalized and enters into force, which also depends on the procedures of the partner country.”

In September of last year, the institute’s PR department, responding to a Hetq inquiry, noted that it still has no official information about which manuscripts Kostanyan was referring to, where they will be brought from, and when the process will begin.

Hetq also contacted the foreign ministry for details following the Matenadaran’s statement. 

The ministry’s response, however, was quite vague. The ministry noted that the project will focus on the manuscripts of Palestinian written heritage, which will be transported to Armenia for restoration and preservation. The Matenadaran’s long-standing experience in the preservation and restoration of manuscripts will be used in this process. As to when such manuscripts will be sent to Armenia and at what cost, the ministry would only say that “a draft legal document aimed at implementing the project is under development.”

Armenia, in 2024, officially recognized the State of Palestine. Israel then summoned Armenia’s Ambassador to Israel for a “harsh reprimand” in response to Armenia’s announcement

A preliminary report issued in February 2024 by Librarians and Archivists in Solidarity with Palestine (“Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Gaza, October 2023–January 2024”) warns of the enormous damage to the cultural heritage of the Gaza Strip. The loss of written heritage is particularly great. The report notes that the central archives of Gaza City, evidence of Gaza’s 150-year history, were destroyed by direct Israeli shelling and subsequent fires.

The report mentions the destruction of numerous other Gaza university libraries and museums.

Given Israel’s continuing military actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Palestine’s cultural heritage remains at risk.

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