"A very extensive, terrible damage." This is how the spokesman for the Gaza City Hall Husni Mohanna describes the consequences of the violent fighting of the last few days between Hamas and the Israeli army in the Daraj district, near the archaeological museum Qasr al-Basha (the Palace of the Pasha), a thirteenth-century building also known as the Fortress of Napoleon who, in 1799, stayed there for three nights. It is a complex of two buildings in which archaeological finds from the Roman, Phoenician, Persian and Ottoman periods were kept.
At the end of December there were the first reports of extensive damage to the complex, yesterday there was more destruction and today the buildings appear practically in ruins. "Almost all the artifacts that were inside," says Mohanna, "were damaged beyond repair."
To reach the museum, start from the Shajaya district and proceed in the direction of Shifa Hospital. You will then cross the Gold Market, a typical area of old Gaza, with ancient shops where precious metals were still traded until the beginning of the war and which at times resembles the market of the Old City of Jerusalem. How much remains of the gold market is anyone's guess. It is certain, however, that the historic el-Omar mosque, in the same area, also suffered heavy damage.
It is unclear whether there were Hamas positions in the vicinity of the museum. However, the Gaza Ministry of Information announced that "during the war, 200 of the 325 archaeological sites in the Strip were destroyed". "Israel," he charged, "wants to erase any connection between Gaza and its historical heritage." That complex, now in ruins, spoke of the night of the times of the Strip. "The Qasr al-Basha was built by the Mamluk sultan Zaher Baibers, who had distinguished himself in battles against the Crusaders and the Mongols. During a visit to Gaza, he fell in love with a local woman and built a building worthy of his rank for her and her children."
Later it was inhabited by Ottoman leaders. In recent times, during the British Mandate over Palestine, it was the site of a police station. In recent years it has hosted exhibitions of archaeological finds from various eras that have come to light in the Gaza Strip: it has thus become a destination for continuous visits also by school groups who have been able to admire ancient coins and ceramics.
At the entrance there were bas-reliefs of two lions, but "the most precious element kept in the museum - adds the guide - was the head of Anat, a Canaanite deity, carved in the late Bronze Age, 4500 years ago". 20 centimeters tall, with her face framed by a snake, she was found by chance by a farmer from Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip. "Anat was the goddess of beauty, of love, but she was also the goddess of war," the guide said.
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