Israel Studies Roundtable Lunch: Shattered Sites, Silenced Stories: The Destruction of Palestinian Heritage

This talk examines the dual destruction of heritage sites and living stories across the Palestinian landscape, where the shattering of physical monuments is inseparable from the silencing of the oral traditions they sustain. It explores a systematic process of memoricide—the attempt to rewrite the stratigraphy of the land by erasing the material evidence of historical continuity. By analyzing the targeting of tangible landmarks and the inalienable traditions rooted within them, we will discuss how these attacks function not only as a violation of international law but as a deliberate strike against the collective memory and enduring identity of a people.

Dr. Lubna Omar is an Instructor in Anthropology at Binghamton University and Associate Director of the Center for Southwest Asia and North Africa Studies. A zooarchaeologist, her research and teaching focus on human-animal relations and the development of urban economies in Southwest Asia, particularly northern Mesopotamia. She has conducted fieldwork in Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, and Japan. In addition to her research, Dr. Omar is active in cultural heritage initiatives, collaborating on projects that frame regional heritage from non-Western perspectives to challenge traditional narratives and document vulnerable archaeological sites."

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