They destroy the rock – Evarist Bartolo
There are between 6,000 and 10,000 islands and islets in the Mediterranean Sea, most of which are uninhabited. One of them has two inhabitants. During the last 23 centuries, pirates, hermits, prisoners of war, exiled knights, farmers and tourists settled on this island.
Some 80 years ago, one of the German prisoners of the First World War held there, built a water mill driven by a rat. Besides rats, bats and wild rabbits, most of the inhabitants were pigs.
More than 2,500 years ago, the navigator Scillace called it ‘Lampas’. Cluverius called her ‘Hephaestia’. And 1,800 years ago, Ptolemy referred to it as ‘Chemona’. ‘Kineni’ in Greek means closest to and Kemmuna is closest to Malta. The Arabs called it ‘Kemmuna’, perhaps a corruption of the Greek word or a reference to the ‘kemmun’ (cumin) plant, which covered large areas of the island at the time.
In 1285, Abulafia, one of the first Kabalists and born in Zaragoza in 1240, arrived in the city to live there for three years during which he compiled his “Sefer ha-Ot” (The Book of Signs).
Five years before finding refuge in Kemmuna, Abulafia went to Rome to convert Pope Nicholas III to the ideal that Muslims, Jews and Christians can live together in harmony, instead of persecuting each other. He fled to Commune after being imprisoned for four weeks in Rome and then had to leave Palermo in a hurry as his teachings were considered too dangerous and he would be stoned by the people.
While Abulafia lived in a cave at one end of the island, at the other end the pirates were hiding in the beaches and caves that were an excellent hiding place for them for many centuries. We know of at least two local hermits who lived there for a time. A small Catholic community lived there more than 600 years ago, large enough to support a medieval chapel.
The island was probably abandoned when raids by corsairs became frequent, as the inhabitants had no fortifications to seek refuge. In the 15th century, taxes were collected by imposing an excise duty on wine imported from Sicily but the money was not used for the tower that was planned for Kemmuna. In 1533, Isle Adam Grand Master also commissioned a plan for a tower on the island but, once again, this project failed.
Grand Master Wignacourt built the existing tower in 1620 and 30 soldiers were stationed there. At this time, knights who had behaved badly in Malta were punished by being sent to Kemmuna. The island was to serve as a prison camp on a number of occasions. At the end of the French occupation, Kemmuna was used for French prisoners, Maltese who were accused of spying for the French and common criminals.
More than 150 years ago, the farmers of Naxxar established Kemmuna and began to grow crops. The population census of 1881 for the Maltese Islands tells us that 20 men and 13 women lived in Kemmuna. Ten years later, the population had increased by 10: 25 men and 18 women. Almost half of the inhabitants, 17, were children under the age of five.
We want to save Kemmuna from the overdevelopment that we allowed in Malta and that we are allowing in Gozo– Evarist Bartolo
In 1912, Kemmuna served as a site for an isolation hospital for cholera victims. Soldiers wounded in the Dardanelles war were also sent to Kemmuna for treatment. The hospital building is still standing there.
Several times during the last 200 years, there have been several large projects to make use of Commune, including a pig farm that was founded in 1979 after a swine fever epidemic that wiped out most of the population of – Maltese pigs. It closed in 2011.
More than just a rock
Kammuna is a small rock that has seen almost as many twists and turns of fate as its larger sister islands. We want to save it from the excessive development that we allowed in Malta and that we are allowing in Gozo.
We have been promised that, this summer, we will not have another jungle of deckchairs in the Blue Lagoon. But, now, Kemmuna is facing a much more serious threat and we want to support the environmental organizations that are appealing to the public to oppose plans to overdevelop by building a complex of 19 villas, a convenience store and amenities, apart from a new hotel . .
Birdlife Malta, Din l’Art Ąlwa, Together for a Better Environment, Friends of the Earth Malta, Moviment Graffitti, Nature Trust Malta – FEE and the Ramblers’ Association of Malta are doing the right thing by appealing for the approval of the Authority of – Environment and Resources of the project before the Planning Tribunal.
They say it is shocking that such a development is being considered. The public should take the opportunity to express their frustration at this proposed development and remind the Planning Authority that their duty is not to developers and big businesses but to the greater good ‘in’ name of the community that provides a balanced and sustainable environment’, according to its mission statement.
Remind us that Kemmuna is designated as a Rural Conservation Area, Nature Reserve, Special Conservation Area, Special Protection Area, Important Bird Area of International and EU Importance, Natura 2000 site, Bird Sanctuary and Dark Sky. A heritage site.
“Instead of safeguarding the biodiversity and the delicate ecological balance of this Natura 2000 site, the ERA approved the extensive urbanization of the island, the uprooting of 380 protected trees and the denaturation of site.”
Objections to application PA/4777/20 can be submitted to the Planning Authority until January 23 online at: https://pa.movimentgraffitti.org/permit/24.
Evarist Bartolo is a former Labor Minister for Foreign Affairs and Education.
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