Jordan wants the Scrolls
In this age when everyone and his dog wants to have their cultural artefacts returned, I suppose it had to happen. Greece wants the Elgin Marbles, Egypt wants the Rosetta Stone, Australia wants some aboriginal bones, America a bullet-riddled blanket and now Jordan wants the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Looked at impartially, the Jordanian case is at least as strong as any of the others I have mentioned and considerably stronger than some. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1948 by Jordanian citizens, on Jordanian territory. Some were smuggled out of the country and illegally sold in America, the rest were housed in a Jordanian Museum in Jordanian Jerusalem. By the standards of international law, the scrolls are indubitably Jordanian.
In 1967 Israel attacked Jordan (with good reason and upon provocation) and captured Jerusalem and the whole of the West Bank. Among the spoils of war were the Rockerfeller Museum and all its contents, which included the Dead Sea Scrolls.
So far so good, except that Israel's occupation of the West Bank has been condemned by the relevant international bodies (in this case, the UN), which means that the occupation is illegal under international law and therefore the continued retention of the scrolls is also illegal. This is clearly laid down in the 1954 Hague Convention regarding the protection of cultural artefacts during armed conflict.
Israel might claim "right of conquest", except that it has seriously weakened its own case by refusing to recognise any such right when applied against Jews. If you are a Jew in Israel and can "prove" - and some of the claimed proofs are highly suspect - that your great-great-grandmother owned a house into which an Arab family moved in 1948, then you can march down with guns and throw the unfortunate family out onto the street and the Israeli courts will support you.
The occasion for the recent claim is an exhibition in Canada in the Toronto Royal Ontario Museum where the curators arranged the loan of a couple of Qumran scrolls. The Jordanian government has filed a complaint with UNESCO, demanding that the Canadians should return the scrolls to Jordan and it has good precedent for such a claim. Egypt recently successfully claimed back some stolen tomb reliefs after they went on display in America and both Greeks and Italians have been successful in similar claims.
Interestingly, Israel has not attempted to deny the facts put forward by the Jordanians. The Israeli Antiquities Authority has simply stated that "Israel is the rightful custodian of the Dead Sea Scrolls" but has not elaborated on the reasons why it is the rightful custodian. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor was equally unforthcoming, merely stating that "the scrolls are an intrinsic part of the Jewish heritage and have nothing to do with Jordan".
This, of course, is the same basis on which other countries are demanding the return of their artefacts and, if uniformly applied, would result in the emptying of every museum in the world. The Elgin Marbles are "an intrinsic part" of Greek heritage and have nothing to do with Britain, so they should go back to Greece. On the other hand, they were paid for by funds embezzled out of the contributions made by Athens' allies for defence against the Persians, so if they do go back to Greece they should certainly not go back to Athens but should be divided among the different islands and cities of the league!
Although I have a sneaking sympathy with Jordan, which could certainly do with the tourist income the scrolls would generate, the plain fact is that the Dead Sea Scrolls do not belong to Israel, nor to Jordan, nor to any other state or culture. They belong to the world.
If Israel is to exercise its custodianship of the scrolls properly, it should make them accessible as widely as possible, with photographs available at the museum shop (for once I am in sympathy with a ban on private photography), reproductions available to every museum or university in the world, and free access to the originals for scholars or anyone with a genuine interest.
The same applies to the Elgin Marbles, the Treasures of Tutankhamun, the reliefs of Chitchin Itza, the Terracotta Warriors and every other cultural treasure which has been handed down to us by our ancestors. We live in a world where travel and communication has made the former nationalisms obsolete. It is wonderful to be able to travel the length and breadth of Europe without having to stop and show my passport - I proudly boast that by catching an early ferry I can drive through five countries before breakfast!
That freedom means that I am at home in Belgium as much as I am in Britain, and Germany's heritage is as much mine as Britain's heritage is theirs. It is deplorable when some "collector" purchases an artefact and hides it away somewhere for his own private pleasure, it is equally deplorable - or even more so - when a government or an institution of learning does the same.
Custodianship is fine, but remember: I own the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Pyramids, and the Parthenon, and the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, and the petroglyphs of Mesa Verde - and so do you.
© Kendall K. Down 2010
