Jerusalem: The Palestinian National Library strongly condemned the Israeli occupation’s attack on the Scientific Library in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israeli forces stormed the library, confiscating several books and detaining its owners, brothers Mahmoud and Ahmed Mona, under flimsy pretexts related to “incitement.” This action represents a dangerous escalation targeting the Palestinian cultural and intellectual landscape, said the National Library of Palestine in a statement.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA, the National Library considered this assault part of a systematic policy aimed at destroying the Palestinian cultural and educational infrastructure in Jerusalem. It also seeks to impose forced censorship on Palestinian intellectual production by criminalizing the possession of books that reflect Palestinian national identity, even if they are children’s books or historical references, said the statement.
The Palestinian National Library emphasized that targeting libraries a
nd detaining their owners is a blatant violation of human rights and the right to freedom of expression and knowledge. It is an extension of the occupation’s ongoing attempts to erase the national memory and impose its unilateral narrative on the holy city, read the statement.
The National Library pointed out that the closure of the Scientific Library and the detention of its caretakers, after nearly 40 years of its pioneering role in serving Palestinian and international researchers, students, and intellectuals, is not just an attack on a cultural institution. ‘It is an assault on the Palestinian right to knowledge and education,’ said the statement, slamming it as part of the ongoing policies of stultification and repression that the occupation has pursued over the years.
These policies reached the level of cultural genocide during the recent war on Gaza, aiming to erase everything linked to Palestinian national identity, stressed the statement. The National Library regarded these attacks as a dangerous e
scalation that requires decisive action from international institutions concerned with freedom of thought and culture. It called for a clear and urgent international stance to halt the policies of occupation that target the Palestinian cultural scene in occupied Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories.
It is noteworthy that this is the second library to be raided in Jerusalem in recent weeks. A few days ago, Israeli forces stormed the Jerusalem Library in Khan El-Zeit Market, closed it, and detained its owner, under the pretext of “selling inciting books.”