Saudi Arabia Guest of Honor at Doha International Book Fair 2023

General view of Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Reuters file photo
General view of Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Reuters file photo
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Saudi Arabia Guest of Honor at Doha International Book Fair 2023

General view of Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Reuters file photo
General view of Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Reuters file photo

Saudi Arabia was named the guest of honor at the Doha International Book Fair 2023 in Qatar. The 32nd edition of the fair, under the slogan “With Reading We Rise”, will take place on June 12-21, the Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.

Saudi Arabia will showcase the most prominent publications, cultural pieces, and archaeological finds from the Kingdom, SPA said.

Artifacts, live performances and educational films about the country’s rich cultural history and its connection with neighboring civilizations will be on display at the fair, it added.



UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
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UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File

The Saint Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, has been put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in danger due to the war in Gaza, the body said Friday.
UNESCO said the site, which dates back to the fourth century, had been put on the endangered list at the demand of Palestinian authorities and cited the "imminent threats" it faced.
"It's the only recourse to protect the site from destruction in the current context," Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, told AFP, referring to the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
In December, the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict decided to grant "provisional enhanced protection" -- the highest level of immunity established by the 1954 Hague Convention -- to the site.
UNESCO had then said it was "already concerned about the state of conservation of sites, before October 7, due to the lack of adequate policies to protect heritage and culture" in Gaza.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 39,175 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.