Dear Robin
Thanks for the update on the BM situation. Although to be honest I found
the quote from the BM director a little odd in itself ("the even more
frustrating and concerning thing is that I knew nothing about this until
yesterday...I hadn’t even seen that letter despite asking for it until this
morning. I’m disgusted by the whole thing.")
Leaving that aside...thanks also for your question about the coverage of
the Gaza genocide on Commons. I'm afraid I don't recall the conversation
about Al Jazeera, and think it's possible we got our wires crossed (as I
don't have a friend there). I would encourage you to get in touch with them
if you have a contact - or feel free to pass that to us.
I did want to share a quick overview of some of the work that's been
happening within the staff team and wider community in relation to Gaza:
We identified several existing partner organisations that hold content
related to the cultural heritage of Gaza, with a view to supporting this to
be openly licensed and shared on Wikimedia Commons. In one collection of
Islamic art, most objects don't have a specific provenance, and those that
were identified as being from Gaza were already on Commons. At another
institution, there were similar issues related to provenance but the main
issue was restrictive licensing, with changes not able to be made without
permission from partners within Gaza, who were (understandably) focused on
physical repair. We plan to revisit this conversation in future.
We contacted a funder who supports relevant digitisation and archiving
projects, and they recommended that we get in touch with the University of
Oxford’s EAMENA initiative. The Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East
and North Africa project documents archaeological sites across the Middle
East and North Africa. Following discussions with their research team -
including consideration over the vulnerability of these sites and the
potential risks of sharing this information - the list of archaeological
sites from the project’s database was made available on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_archaeological_sites_in_the_Gaza_Strip
As you know, sometimes organisations hold editathon events (and similar)
independent of Wikimedia UK. We discovered that the Sarah Parker Remond
Centre at University College London was hosting a ‘Wikithon against erasure
– archiving Palestinian culture and thought’, and provided a member of
staff to be on hand to provide advice about editing. The event led to the
improvement of articles relating to Palestinian museums:
https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Sarah_Parker_Remond_Centre/Art_and_Feminism_Wikipedia_edit-a-thon_against_erasure_(Thursday_10th_April_2025)/home
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the
Near East (UNWRA) holds a collection of historic and contemporary
photographs documenting the lives of Palestinian refugees. The archive is
part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, recognising its importance.
Wikimedia's collaboration with UNWRA is led by John Cummings, and has
resulted in the release of some incredible (but devastating) images on
Commons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Photographs_produced_by_UNRWA
Several other conversations are taking place between staff, volunteers and
organisations that hold historic material relating to Gaza.
I want to stress that although some of these conversations are happening
somewhat "behind the scenes", they are happening in consultation with
Wikimedians in and from Palestine. With thanks to Richard Nevell from the
UK staff team, who has been involved in most if not all of the initiatives
listed above.
All best
Lucy
On Mon, 16 Feb 2026 at 20:17, Robin Owain via Wikimediauk-l <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Update:
>
>
> https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com?d=x.com&u=aHR0cHM6Ly94LmNvbS9EYWxyeW1wbGVXaWxsL3N0YXR1cy8yMDIzMzk5MDU4NjkwMTU4Nzk3&i=NjVhZmE0ZjY3MDExZmY1Y2Q3NDE3Yjdi&t=aWRYdHlvcjE2bVVzZ3BIUGxQVE5IN1pGa01NREh3R3NqQmpOWllOb2VGTT0=&h=5e4737d47eba493caab96abcfdda7492&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVZaFAaacHBa1XXlgRscq_crzoGlUi68xQtfbYwMm-_cdbNaheb163x6NaWPPdLeY2s
>
> R
>
>
> > On 15/02/2026 18:30 GMT Robin Owain via Wikimediauk-l <
> [email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hi Lucy and all
> >
> > Two matters:
> >
> > 1. The British Museum has removed the word “Palestine” from its Ancient
> Middle East displays. Wikimedia UK has collaborated with the British Museum
> since at least 2010. The BM is making curatorial decisions based on
> lobbying rather than scholarly consensus; this, in my opinion, conflicts
> with WMUK's mission of neutral and uncensored knowledge sharing. In my
> view, WMUK's Board should now meet to discuss ending any partnerships we
> may have with the BM and possibly issuing a public statement on the BM's
> political (certainly not cultural) bias.
> >
> > 2. Two years ago at a WMUK staff meeting I informed you that I was going
> to contact an Al Jazeera staff member to request a change in their
> licensing of files (photos, film, audio) to an open licence. What we had on
> Commons at the time was one-sided, biased files, censored and sugar-coated
> by the Government of Israel to to suit delicate British taste. You might
> recall that I also mentioned that getting information on the genocide in
> Gaza was imperative if our projects were to remain unbiased. We still have
> a gap on all things to do with the State of Palestine, including the
> ongoing death and destruction of their people.
> >
> > You asked me not to contact the Al Jazeera staff member as you would do
> that yourself "through a friend". Did that happen? Are the files on the
> genocide now on Commons?
> >
> > Best regards
> >
> > Robin
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia UK mailing list
> > [email protected]
> >
> https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com?d=wikimedia.org&u=aHR0cHM6Ly9saXN0cy53aWtpbWVkaWEub3JnL21haWxtYW4vbGlzdGluZm8vd2lraW1lZGlhdWstbA==&i=NjVhZmE0ZjY3MDExZmY1Y2Q3NDE3Yjdi&t=L0MvT2diZ2IxTU15ZU4yMkxoRjZ1cEZvSW5hdW52NnNKb2ZLRVZ4WHBjdz0=&h=5e4737d47eba493caab96abcfdda7492&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVZaFAaacHBa1XXlgRscq_crzoGlUi68xQtfbYwMm-_cdbNaheb163x6NaWPPdLeY2s
> > WMUK:
> https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com?d=wikimedia.org.uk&u=aHR0cHM6Ly93aWtpbWVkaWEub3JnLnVr&i=NjVhZmE0ZjY3MDExZmY1Y2Q3NDE3Yjdi&t=ZDVWdmhjK1FFSmNIZ3o1VGJSMk11ZUE1QVBEazdHM1hrdUN1OTI0NlNXST0=&h=5e4737d47eba493caab96abcfdda7492&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVZaFAaacHBa1XXlgRscq_crzoGlUi68xQtfbYwMm-_cdbNaheb163x6NaWPPdLeY2s
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia UK mailing list
> [email protected]
>
> https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com?d=wikimedia.org&u=aHR0cHM6Ly9saXN0cy53aWtpbWVkaWEub3JnL21haWxtYW4vbGlzdGluZm8vd2lraW1lZGlhdWstbA==&i=NjVhZmE0ZjY3MDExZmY1Y2Q3NDE3Yjdi&t=L0MvT2diZ2IxTU15ZU4yMkxoRjZ1cEZvSW5hdW52NnNKb2ZLRVZ4WHBjdz0=&h=5e4737d47eba493caab96abcfdda7492&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVZaFAaacHBa1XXlgRscq_crzoGlUi68xQtfbYwMm-_cdbNaheb163x6NaWPPdLeY2s
> WMUK:
> https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com?d=wikimedia.org.uk&u=aHR0cHM6Ly93aWtpbWVkaWEub3JnLnVr&i=NjVhZmE0ZjY3MDExZmY1Y2Q3NDE3Yjdi&t=ZDVWdmhjK1FFSmNIZ3o1VGJSMk11ZUE1QVBEazdHM1hrdUN1OTI0NlNXST0=&h=5e4737d47eba493caab96abcfdda7492&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVZaFAaacHBa1XXlgRscq_crzoGlUi68xQtfbYwMm-_cdbNaheb163x6NaWPPdLeY2s
>
--
Lucy Crompton-Reid
Chief Executive
07803 505 169
*My pronouns are she/her and my name is pronounced like this
<https://namedrop.io/lucycromptonreid>*
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