Statement concerning Palestine

Cultural Emergency Response (CER) continues to express its deep concern for the violence inflicted on Palestinian people who continue to withstand brutal and impossible catastrophes.

As an organisation whose core purpose is to protect people’s culture in crisis, we reiterate the urgent appeal for the safety of civilians and for all parties to respect international law and conventions including the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

We have remained in close contact with our partners on the ground, with whom we have long-standing relationships. Based on their reports, independent monitoring, and news outlets, the CER team has closely monitored damage and destruction to Palestinian cultural heritage.

In coordination with our partners in Gaza and the West Bank, and with support from other international organisations, we have begun to facilitate a locally-led response in Palestine.

Our goal is to foster cultural continuity and community well-being by providing secure spaces for community gatherings, expression, and trauma recovery, and supporting ongoing cultural practices.

We aim to facilitate cultural continuity by documenting damage, strengthening existing capacities, facilitating access to storage spaces and materials, and creating tentative protective measures for collections and cultural spaces.

The wellbeing and livelihood of cultural workers remains at the core of our response.

Our emergency mechanism is active, and applications may be submitted at any time. Our emergency support form to apply can be found below.