Late last month in Palmyra, Syria, Islamic State killers beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, an 83-year-old Syrian archaeologist who had reportedly refused to reveal the whereabouts of pre-Islamic antiquities hidden for safekeeping. A few weeks later, Islamic State, or ISIS, blew up the Temple of Bel, a remarkable first-century structure where the Semitic god was once worshiped.
What can the world do to stop ISIS from its destruction of ancient art and architecture in Syria and Iraq? Here are four actions to take:
• Police the region’s borders.There is said to be a trade in ISIS-looted antiquities, aiding the group’s military efforts. The scale of the trade is disputed, but local authorities must prevent these objects from crossing Iraq’s and Syria’s borders into Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and even Iran. And foreign authorities must prevent them from getting to collectors elsewhere around the globe.
• Provide safekeeping for artifacts.U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483 (2003), obligates foreign countries to take “appropriate steps to facilitate the safe return” to Iraqi institutions of property illegally removed from the Iraqi National Museum. Foreign countries have chosen to do the same with Syrian cultural property. Yet returning these objects to Iraq and Syria has meant putting them back into harm’s way.
Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill (HR 1493) that allows the president to waive this requirement and keep at-risk cultural objects in temporary custody of the federal government, or a cultural or educational institution in the U.S., at the request of the objects’ foreign owners. The bill should become law, and a U.N. Security Council resolution should urge other nations to take similar steps.
• Restore partage.Archaeological finds in the 19th and 20th centuries were shared between foreign excavating parties and the local host countries. This practice, called partage, provided the foundational collections for regional national museums, such as those in Baghdad and Kabul, and contributed to antiquity collections in Europe and North America. Partage encouraged a scholarly and broad public understanding of ancient cultures. It also reduced the risk of catastrophic damage to antiquities by distributing them over many locations. For these reasons, antiquities should be shared broadly and distributed among museums around the world.
• Put boots on the ground.Authorities in Iraq and Syria are not going to make the protection of antiquities a priority in the midst of wartime conditions. Given this reality, the U.N. should deploy its “blue helmet” peacekeeper forces to protect cultural sites at risk. Policing borders to prohibit the illicit trade in artifacts will not prevent the destruction of ancient sites. Only policing the sites themselves will do that.
Ultimately, these steps, together with the promotion of greater transnational understanding, will succeed only if political and economic stability can be returned in the region. Until this stability can be restored, emergency measures must be taken to protect the world’s artistic legacy in the region. A living link to our world’s oldest civilizations in all of their beauty and profundity is part of what makes us human. And affirming our humanity will be part of what, in the end, will allow us to defeat ISIS.
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Mr. Cuno is president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. http://www.wsj.com/articles/saving-antiquities-from-islamic-state-1442875759?mod=djemMER