Long-neglected Gaza heritage wilts in war

The Israeli missile tore through the vaulted ceiling and pulverised age-old sandstone. One direct hit destroyed the Omari mosque in Jabaliya and dealt another blow to Gaza's beleaguered heritage.
      
The site is believed to have housed a mosque since the seventh century and parts of the Omari were said to date back to the 14th century.
      
A modern building was added several years ago, but the Omari had been one of Gaza's few remaining historic buildings. Now it stands in ruins.
      
The muezzin was killed after he had given tCanaaniteshe call to prayer, residents said.
      
The narrow sliver of territory tucked into the eastern Mediterranean between Egypt and Israel has been home to settled communities since at least 3,300 BC, historians say, governed by the Canaanites, Pharaohs, Greeks, Romans and Byzantines before the arrival of Islam in the seventh century AD.
     
It was ruled by the Mamluk dynasty in the 13th century, and three centuries later joined the Ottoman Empire, which held sway until the British took the area in 1917.
      
But Gaza has relatively little to show for its history.
      
Centuries of conquest and conflict, and rapid population growth since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 have hit the enclave's cultural heritage badly. Squat apartment blocks built from breeze blocks line many of the city's streets.
     
"It's not a priority for anyone," said Yasmeen al-Khoudary, who helps curate a private museum set up by her engineer father Jawdat.
      
"When you think of Gaza you never think of history, or ancient Gaza or archaeology, you always think food, medicine, refugee camps, Hamas."       ...