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What Israel’s Destruction of the Great Omari Mosque Means | The Nation

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Yes, it’s a crime against cultural heritage. But more importantly, it’s part of a campaign of total annihilation. If you look at images of Gaza now, instead of cities where thousands of people lived, all you’ll see is rubble. The remnants of homes and apartment buildings lie strewn about, mangled beyond recognition. Shops, hospitals, schools, universities, religious buildings, whether ancient or new (it makes little difference now)—all have been reduced to unsalvageable heaps of rock and steel, some bombed beyond recognition, legible now only in the memories of those who knew them. There is a word for when buildings and cities are destroyed as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing: “urbicide.” It is a tactic used to make sure there is nothing left to return to, nothing that can be cherished or latched on to. Its goal is a total colonization of the landscape that erases whatever used to be. Since Israel began its assault on Gaza in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack, one of the most

Mic Drop / January 24, 2024 What Israel’s Destruction of the Great Omari Mosque Means Yes, it’s a crime against cultural heritage. But more importantly, it’s part of a campaign of total annihilation. Kate Wagner Share Copy Link Facebook X (Twitter) Bluesky Pocket Email Ad Policy Left: Gaza City’s Omari Mosque after Israeli bombardment. Right: A Palestinian man reading in the courtyard of the same mosque last spring. (Mohammed Abed / Getty) This article appears in the January 2024 issue , with the headline “The Urbicide of Gaza.” If you look at images of Gaza now, instead of cities where thousa

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