In this week's Stage Talk we talked about the impact of the Israel-Gaza conflict on cultural heritage sites and how as open source researchers, we can help to monitor the scale of destruction. 

The discussion was based around our latest documentary with Scripps News, which you can watch in full here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/06/26/gaza-israel-destroy-destruction-damage-cultural-history-heritage-archaeology-conflict-war/

Links that were mentioned in the talk: 

Tools: 

Planet https://www.planet.com/

Sentinel Hub https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-browser/

Google Earth https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/earth/about/versions/

Ollie Ballinger's damage probability map tool of Gaza: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2023/11/15/a-new-tool-allows-researchers-to-track-damage-in-gaza/

Wikimapia: https://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=31.283135&lon=34.257388&z=15&m=w

Annique's analysing satellite imagery to monitor settlements, video guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwVOE-IpAs4&list=PLq6cQ--4f90jOkNfpOWScZOzji6aAVXDR&index=5

Relevant research:

Bosnia research into mosque destruction: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/bosnias-mosques-without-muslims/

The Byzantine mosaic mentioned by Jake, detailing protection efforts: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/emergency-safeguarding-recently-discovered-al-bureij-mosaics-gaza 

Jake's X thread on the demolition of the mosaic https://x.com/JakeGodin/status/1805965185653395721

Archival photo of Gaza: https://dfg-viewer.de/show?tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=https://www.gda.bayern.de/mets/2b61e87a-b623-4009-80d9-0f5e7c9b7da8

Bellingcat's previous investigation into domicide in Gaza via following the 8219 IDF unit. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/04/29/weve-become-addicted-to-explosions-the-idf-unit-responsible-for-demolishing-homes-across-gaza/

CNN's Jeremy Diamond visits a destroyed graveyard: https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/01/29/idf-gaza-graveyard-destruction-diamond-pkg-lead-vpx.cnn

Kyl-Bingaman Amendment (US Law) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyl–Bingaman_Amendment#:~:text=The%20Kyl–Bingaman%20Amendment%20(KBA,outside%20of%20the%20United%20States. 

Documentary covering damage to Ukraine's cultural heritage sites by Bellingcat and Scripps News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HiGgcuB2y4



Organisations referenced that are monitoring the destruction of heritage sites in Gaza and other conflicts:

EAMENA: https://www.eamena.org/

Heritage for Peace: https://www.heritageforpeace.org/

Aliph Foundation: https://www.aliph-foundation.org/

Caucus Heritage Center (Cornell) https://caucasusheritage.cornell.edu/

This talk was recorded on July 3rd, 2024 in the Bellingcat Discord Server. To join the server, download Discord and visit www.discord.gg/bellingcat . Music courtesy of Artlist.

"Mapping the destruction of cultural heritage sites in Gaza"- with the Bellingcat team

Music from the immensely massively multiplayer online Sci Fi game, EVE Online.

More information and a free trial can be found at www.eveonline.com

EVE Online - Miner Stories

EVE Online - Gallentean Refuge

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"Mapping the destruction of cultural heritage sites in Gaza"- with the Bellingcat team

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