On 15-16 July 2026 the first Ministerial Conference for Palestinian Culture was held at the Prado National Museum and the Reina Sofía National Art Centre in Madrid. Promoted by Spain, the international forum brought together more than 30 national delegations as well as UNESCO and the Arab League to consider the impact of the catastrophic war in Gaza on Palestinian culture and its tangible and intangible heritage. Greece was officially represented by a delegation led by Iason Fotilas, the Deputy Minister of Culture, and was a signatory to the joint declaration issued at the end of the conference calling on nations to work towards an International Pact for the Resilience of Palestinian Culture that will help protect and revitalise Palestinian cultural life, strengthen its institutions, and mobilise the political will and resources needed to locate culture at the centre of any reconstruction.
Never forget the genocide Opening the Madrid conference, Spain’s Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, framed the protection of Palestinian culture as a cause of humanity: “We have no right to forget Gaza, the genocide. We have no right to forget the occupation, the devastation and the bombs. There can be no forgetting in the face of daily violence, repression, torture, the displacement of the population, and the use of hunger as a weapon of war.
We have no right to turn the page or to remain impassive before the systematic violation of human rights, of international law and of the global norms of coexistence between states. No one can grow accustomed to this, or look away from such crimes – from the destruction of schools and universities, museums, archives and libraries; from the elimination of Palestinian tangible and intangible heritage.” Urtasun recalled the Spanish Civil War and the efforts of the Second Republic to safeguard the Prado’s masterpieces from bombardment, sending works by Goya, Velázquez, El Greco, Rubens and Titian into protective exile. That episode, he suggested, offered a lesson for the present: cultural heritage must be rescued not only because it is beautiful, but because it embodies the collective memory of a people.
The view from UNESCO Nayef Al-Fayez, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture, was formerly the Jordanian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities and is pictured here in December 2022 with Dr Lina Mendoni (photo credit: Hellenic Mi…
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