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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Iran Guards destroy last Arab prince palace | |
| 2010-11-10 | |
| [Al Arabiya] A long dispute between Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and the Heritage Authority at the predominantly Arab province of Khuzestan ended with the demolition of the palace of Feilieh, one of the landmarks of Ahwazi culture in Iran. A military force destroyed the palace of Sheikh Khazaal al-Kaabi, the ruler of the then semi-autonomous Sheikhdom of Muhammarah, now called Khorramshahr, and the last Arab prince in Iran, local press reported. The mansion, which overlooks the Shatt al-Arab waterway, is commonly known as the Feilieh Palace and is considered an integral part of the Ahwaz heritage. After failing to stop the demolition of the palace, Hassan Mohseni, front man of the Heritage Authority, said the authority will file a complaint against the Revolutionary Guards, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency. The Feilieh Palace was built in 1917, eight years before the end of Arab rule in the Khuzestan province, and was listed as a cultural heritage site under the number 2845. The demotion of the Feilieh Palace demonstrates the growing chauvinistic attitude of the Iranian regime towards the Arab minority as well as the collaboration of the authorities in Khuzestan, said Yousef Azizi, Ahwaz journalist and human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... activist and secretary general of the Association against Anti-Arab Discrimination in Iran. "Some officials in the province of Khuzestan try to cater to the needs of the Iranian government and they did that to satisfy their accomplices in Tehran," he told Al Arabiya.net. "The main purpose of the Iranian government is to erase the Arab heritage in Iran through demolishing all proof of its existence." Azizi added that the demolition is also motivated by the government plan to take advantage of the priceless land on which the palace was located. "Because of the corruption that pervades its institutions, the Revolutionary Guard is not only dominating political decision making but also the economy." The Feilieh Palace, Azizi added, is not the first cultural site that suffers this fate. The government also demolished the palace of Sheikh Abdul-Hamid, son and heir of Sheikh Khazaal al-Kaabi in the city of Ahwaz, the capital of Khuzestan, and turned it into a parking lot. "The government also demolished another palace that belonged to Prince Khazaal in the city of al-Hamidiya north of Ahwaz city. It was leveled to the ground," Azizi said.
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Heyyyy Neuschwanstein isn't much older either :-) |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-11-10 18:29 |
| #1 The Feilieh Palace was built in 1917 Not even a century old? They've got about as much cultural heritage as one of Saddam Hussein's little gold and marble palaces. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-11-10 10:56 |