What Is Left to be Done

The Registry is a live document that requires continual updating. Some buildings have been demolished and others have been built.  One can always think of introducing modern input to the Registry, because the concept of what is historic may change over time. The buildings included in the current Riwaq’s Registry are more than half a century old, and new entries are added to the Registry every year. Some responsible agency may one day decide to include more buildings in the Registry, irrespective of their age, for aesthetic, political, cultural, or other considerations.

Less than 10% of the total historic buildings were not registered for logistical reasons related to the current situation. Such buildings should be added when conditions permit. It is good to remember that this Registry is the first step in any documentation process, because documentation means making plans and conducting detailed studies of the buildings from architectural, structural, and historical aspects and photographing all its components. If the proposed law for the protection of cultural assets in Palestine is passed, we may find ourselves facing a big challenge: preparing protection plans for more than 400 villages and towns, a challenge that requires updating the Registry, developing its components to fit the new task, and linking all the locations to the Geographical Information System. (For financial reasons, we were able to provide only a few model samples that could be followed if the proposed law is passed.)