At the OHS committee meeting held on Friday 8th December 2023, the Trustees agreed to the following statement on the destruction of libraries and archives in Gaza. The statement will be posted on our website and sent to Husam Zomlot, Head of the Palestine Mission to the UK.
The Oral History Society (UK) views with horror and sadness the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Oral history plays a part in capturing and preserving individual and cultural memory. News of the destruction of Gaza University, Gaza Municipal Library and the Rashad al-Shawwa Cultural Center demonstrates the vulnerability of cultural and communal spaces in the current war. In particular the gutting of the library means that books, titles and documents are lost. The Oral History Society has a record of supporting people whose histories are threatened by conflict and ensuing destruction. The contribution of memory to the survival of the history of Palestine is already acknowledged by scholars around the world. The Oral History Society will do its best to support the recording and remembering of that history when the rebuilding of Gaza can begin.
