Jordan Seeks Dead Sea Scrolls From Canada Under UN Convention

Invoking the the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the government of Jordan has asked Canada to seize the portion of the 2000-year old Dead Sea Scrolls that are on display until January 3 from Israel at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum. Canada, Jordan and Israel have all signed the Convention and its First Protocol. (Signers of Convention, Protocol.) The Convention is aimed at assuring that cultural property is not damaged during armed conflict. Yesterday's Toronto Globe and Mail reports that while the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in caves near the Dead Sea in 1947 by Bedouin Arabs and found their way to Israel, the majority of the Scrolls were found in the next seven years in operations supervised by Jordan on land it occupied west of the Jordan River. The thousands of fragments found were taken to the Palestine Archeological Museum in East Jerusalem. When Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War, the Israel Antiquities Authority took possession of the Scrolls to conserve and exhibit them at the Israel Museum.

The First Protocol (Art. I, Sec. 2) to the Hague Convention, which has been signed by Canada, Jordan and Israel, is designed to prevent exportation of cultural property during an armed conflict. It requires each signatory:

to take into its custody cultural property imported into its territory either directly or indirectly from any occupied territory. This shall either be effected automatically upon the importation of the property or, failing this, at the request of the authorities of that territory.

Canada's Cultural Property Export and Import Act Sec. 36.1(4), implementing the Convention, provides:

If the government of a State Party submits a request in writing to the Minister for the recovery and return of any cultural property that has been exported from an occupied territory of that State Party and that is in Canada in the possession of or under the control of any person, institution or public authority, the Attorney-General of Canada may institute an action in the Federal Court or in a superior court of a province for the recovery of the property by the State Party.

Israel argues that the temporary loan of the Scrolls for display in Canada does not amount to "exportation" under the Hague Convention, and that the Scrolls, which it says it is merely holding as custodian, are part of the Jewish heritage. Palestinians argue that the Scrolls are also part of their heritage. [Thanks to Vos Iz Neias? for the lead.]