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PUSH Sites

This web site contains the initial inventory of sites of shared regional heritage published by PUSH partners Al Quds University, Bezalel Academy and the Jordan Society for Sustainable Development, in the first half of 2007.

Since the PUSH project was initiated in October 2006, the three partners have worked to synthesize the available inventories of cultural and natural heritage through discussions with stakeholders including other universities, research institutions, private consultants and local non-governmental organizations.  Furthermore, team members utilized The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) categories to identify sites of cultural heritage and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) for natural heritage site selection, in addition to the guidelines developed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for World Heritage inclusion.
During the discussion and evaluation process each PUSH team has been in constant dialogue with the other two teams, to draw attention to the commonality of sites located in Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian areas.  Weekly meetings were held at the management level, augmented by regular full team meetings in Jerusalem, and constant email and phone discussions. These meetings and discussions enabled team members to create the necessary synergy between the three national lists, as well as to create and expand professional cross-border linkages between the three partner institutions.  As a result, each team prepared an inventory of shared heritage sites.   Each inventory describes no less than thirty examples of shared cultural and natural heritage sites.  The breadth of the sites is unparalleled; from rock art, to religious and historical buildings; from cultural routes, to sites of early technological development, each of which illustrate the important historical, cultural and natural heritage shared by the peoples of the region.

The process of identifying sites of shared regional heritage will culminate in the publishing of Our Common Heritage at the end of 2007, after which PUSH will focus its attention at the community level by developing six pilot sites of shared heritage.