OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 14 April — The Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center was broken into yesterday (April 13) by the Israeli Army at 10:50 a.m. The rampaging troops arrived in two tanks and four armored personnel carriers. They went through the front gate, detonated the second floor iron door and broke in. All of the windows of the two floors have been shattered. The soliders stayed inside for 40 minutes and left at 11:30 a.m.
“We have no way of finding out what acts of vandalism and/or theft they have wrought as we are barred from leaving our homes for the 16th day running. We will have to wait till the siege is lifted to assess and document the damage,” said the center’s director in an e-mail sent to one of his friends.
The center’s building is a beautiful model of traditional Palestinian architecture, originally built in 1927 and renovated in 1995. It houses valuable art work, valuable ancient manuscripts — by Khalil Sakakini — and it also houses the offices of the poet Mahmoud Darwish.
This is the second breaking into of an art institution, following the break in and vandalism of the Qassaba Theater and Cinematheque in Ramallah, and the current occupation of the Bethlehem Peace Center.
Since the start of the latest invasion, the Sakakini has continued its work underground with the gathering and posting of testimonies about daily life under siege, letters and drawings by children, appeals to the media, and an open letter to George Bush. All these documents may be found at: http://www.intertech-pal.com. The other website featuring these documents has been hacked by the Israelis: http://www.alnakba.org/siege
“We are not surprised that Israeli troops have no respect for human lives as demonstrated in the barbarous Jenin Camp massacre, or for holy places as demonstrated in the continuing medieval siege to the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. The Israelis have no respect for cultural human heritage too,” the center’s director added.
