Dr. Lina Khamis has published research on the protection of Palestinian intangible cultural heritage (ICH) as a chapter in the new book Archiving Gaza in the Present: Memory, Culture and Erasure, released by Saqi Books.
Dr. Khamis’s chapter, titled “Intangible Cultural Heritage in Palestine and International Law: The Wherewithal of Cultural Genocide”, offers a powerful examination of how Palestinian cultural memory is being threatened, reshaped, and, in many cases, deliberately targeted.
Dr. Khamis explores how Palestinian intangible cultural heritage (ICH), including language, rituals, oral traditions, crafts, agricultural practices, and collective memory, faces systematic erosion under occupation. While international law offers mechanisms for protecting cultural heritage, she argues that these frameworks remain largely insufficient in addressing the realities in historic Palestine, particularly in Gaza.
Her research draws attention to how cultural genocide can occur without the complete physical destruction of a people. Instead, it can manifest through the suppression of cultural expression, the dismantling of social practices, the restriction of movement, and the erasure or appropriation of cultural symbols. She notes that these forms of harm undermine the continuity of Palestinian identity and violate core international conventions designed to protect cultural rights.
Dr. Khamis underscores that the fragmentation imposed on Palestinian communities disrupts cultural transmission between generations, threatening essential practices such as storytelling, traditional crafts, communal farming rituals, and celebrations deeply tied to place and land. She argues that protecting intangible heritage must become a central component of global justice efforts, especially as the current war on Gaza intensifies threats to both tangible and intangible heritage.
Her chapter calls for stronger international legal mechanisms, reparative justice, and active global engagement to safeguard Palestinian cultural identity. By situating Palestine’s struggle within wider conversations about memory, erasure, and international law, Dr. Khamis provides an urgent scholarly contribution to understanding how culture itself becomes a site of resilience and resistance.