DOHA: Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines — Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir, was inscribed on the World Heritage List yesterday.
The World Heritage Committee began review of 36 sites nominated for inclusion in the list. The Palestinian property was the first discussed. It was submitted by Palestine as an emergency nomination.
The panel also inscribed the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger after finding that the landscape had become vulnerable under the impact of socio-cultural and geo-political transformations that could bring irreversible damage to its authenticity and integrity.
It cited the start of construction of a separation wall and said it might isolate farmers from fields they had cultivated for centuries.
The property is a few kilometres southwest of Jerusalem, in the Central Highlands between Nablus and Hebron.
The Battir hill landscape comprises a farmed valleys with stone terraces, some of which are irrigated for market garden production, while others are dry and planted with grape vines and olive trees.
Terrace farming in the mountainous region is supported by irrigation channels fed by underground sources.
A traditional system of distribution is used to share the water collected through this network between families from the nearby village of Battir.
The Peninsula
