Is Israel using archaeology to advance West Bank annexation?
A new 'Heritage Authority' would take over responsibility for archaeological sites in the West Bank from the Civil Administration. The minister in charge isn't worried about the consequences
Haaretz
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A new 'Heritage Authority' would take over responsibility for archaeological sites in the West Bank from the Civil Administration. The minister in charge isn't worried about the consequences
Sebastia boasts ancient splendor and wealth. It holds countless testimonies to the existence of a powerful, affluent, stable and self-assured kingdom, with enormous structures, beautiful stone columns and magnificent capitals. There are also weeds, thorns and thistles two meters high. Thistles and wild carrot compete for dominance in Sebastia. During our visit last week, there was not a living soul there, except for an owl perched on a wall in the heart of the ancient palace, staring at us in bewilderment.
Sebastia could be a world-renowned site. It is one of the most impressive archaeological sites I have visited. One can see the remains of the city of Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel in the eighth and ninth centuries B.C.E. Alongside them stand the impressive remains of the city of Sebastia, founded by Herod 2,000 years ago. Visitors to Sebastia can see a huge theater, a basilica and a forum.
The Temple of Augustus still looks magnificent. In the town's Byzantine church, according to a medieval Christian tradition, the head of John the Baptist was hidden. Another church marks John's burial place.
Along the main avenue of the Roman city, 600 impressive stone columns remain. At the end of the street, at the Western Gate, one can see the remains of two round towers from the Hellenistic period. A closer look reveals that someone has painted Stars of David on them in black.
Sebastia. Along the main avenue of the Roman city, 600 impressive stone columns remain.Credit: Itai Ron
Sebastia. Along the main avenue of the Roman city, 600 impressive stone columns remain.Credit: Itai Ron
The site in Sebastia was empty and depressing last week. The cafes and restaurants that once thrived at the entrance to the site are closed. The Russian pilgrims who used to visit have stopped coming. The livelihood of the village residents, once based on tourism and agriculture, is collapsing. For several hours, we were accompanied by regional council head Mohammad Azem and his deputy, Dr. Nizar Kayed. They first showed us well-preserved sites within the village: an ancient church, a sheikh's tomb and a mosque. Afterward, we continued up the hill – to the archaeological site.
It was important for them to explain the difference between the sites located within the village in Area B, where governmental powers are divided between the Palestinian Authority and the State of Israel – civilian matters are under the PA's jurisdiction, and military and security matters are under Israeli jurisdiction – and those located in what is defined as Area C, meaning under full Israeli control.
According to them, everything under their responsibility is clean and well-preserved. Everything that is supposed to be under Israeli care is not properly preserved.
Azem and Kayed, whose office displays photos of Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas alongside the Palestinian flag, are well aware of Israel's accusations that Palestinians damage archaeological sites under their control. They repeatedly emphasized the importance they attach to the site near their homes, its significance in the town's life and their meticulous care in preserving it.
It was important for them to refute the accusations of damaging antiquities. As we stood before the Roman city's western gate, Azem pointed to the Stars of David painted on the ancient gate stones. "We didn't do that," he said, smiling a bitter, somewhat tired smile. In his office, he showed me a photo of a large yellow bulldozer brought in for work at the Roman theater, which he viewed as sacrilege.
"They're taking away our livelihoods," Azem explained, "expropriating agricultural lands, blocking access to agricultural areas. There is no tourism at all, and in fact, they are now forcing us to live as refugees in our own land. There are 4,000 residents here, and for us, what is happening now, in recent months, is worse than the Nakba of 1948 and the 1967 occupation. The difference that once existed between the settlers and the army has disappeared. The borders have blurred. We want a tourist archaeological site here that is open to everyone – Jews, Arabs and Christian tourists. We want to be partners in this site. We always have been."
More than 2,600 archaeological sites
In May 2023, the government approved an allocation of 32 million shekels (around $8.8 million at the time) to turn Sebastia into a visitor attraction, including restoring archaeological findings and paving an access road that wouldn't cross the village. Alongside this, there was talk of increasing law enforcement in the area and preventing illegal construction. Currently, it's difficult to discern that any of this has been done. Various sources claim that the army, which is supposed to secure the work at the site, is not available and cannot allocate resources, thus delaying the work for a long time.
Sebastia is defined as a "park." The designation of antiquity sites in the West Bank as "parks" instead of "national parks" stems from legal and political reasons. Since these areas are not under Israeli sovereignty, the Israeli National Parks, Nature Reserves, Memorial Sites and National Sites Law , which applies within Israel's borders, is not valid there. Responsibility for antiquities rests with the Civil Administration and the military commander, and according to their orders, these sites are called "parks."
Sebastia local council head Mohammed Azem: "They're taking away our livelihoods."Credit: Itai Ron
Sebastia local council head Mohammed Azem: "They're taking away our livelihoods."Credit: Itai Ron
The large Palestinian flag, which drew the ire of Ministers Amihai Eliyahu and Idit Silman three years ago, still flies on a tall flagpole at the seam line between the village and the site, between Area B and Area C.
Heritage Minister Rabbi Amihai Eliyahu of Otzma Yehudit said at the time: "We will not allow our enemies to erase Jewish identity from thousands of heritage sites across Judea and Samaria. We are constantly working to expand the fight against the destruction of heritage and antiquities in the area, and I am convinced that we will bring good news that will end this lawlessness."
According to a Civil Administration publication, there are approximately 2,600 archaeological and historical sites in the West Bank. Many of them are of supreme importance to the history and culture of the Land of Israel and even to world culture.
In July 2023, the Heritage Ministry stated that there are 3,064 Jewish heritage sites across the West Bank, of which 2,452 are in Area C, with a third of them – 1,150 sites – damaged to varying degrees by Palestinians. Other publications cite 6,000 antiquity sites in the West Bank, some important and central, others small, hidden and unknown.
Sebastia. Someone painted Stars of David on Hellenistic period remains.Credit: Itai RonSebastia. Someone painted Stars of David on Hellenistic period remains.Credit: Itai Ron
Among the prominent sites in the West Bank are the Qumran Caves, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the Judean Desert; Shiloh, the site of the Tabernacle and an early religious center; Samaria, or Sebastia, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel; Herodium near Bethlehem; the Hasmonean palaces near Jericho; the Cyprus Fortress built by Herod; the aqueducts to Jerusalem from the Second Temple period (the Biyar Aqueduct and the Aroub Aqueduct); Susya, an ancient city from the Mishnaic period near Hebron; Nebi Samuel near Jerusalem; and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
Most of the sites are located in Area C, under Israeli security and civilian control. Area C comprises 60 percent of the West Bank. Several of these sites have been declared as parks. These sites – Nebi Samuel, Sebastia, Herodium and Qumran – are managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and most of them, except Sebastia, receive visitors.
Other sites in the top ten – Shiloh, the Biyar Aqueduct, Susya, the Tomb of the Patriarchs – are managed by regional councils or regional tourism development companies. The Hasmonean palaces are in Area A, under PA control, and are therefore closed to Israelis.
A donkey in Sebastia. "This bill represents a political and diplomatic threat, opening the door to land appropriation and non-professional political appointments."Credit: Itai RonA donkey in Sebastia. "This bill represents a political and diplomatic threat, opening the door to land appropriation and non-professional political appointments."Credit: Itai Ron
The problem of antiquities looting
I traveled to Sebastia with archaeologist Yonatan Mizrahi, a member of the Peace Now Settlement Watch team. It's a short drive across Samaria. We met in Ariel, and from there drove together in his car for about 40 minutes to Sebastia. Along the way, as we passed soldiers wearing black masks at checkpoints, Mizrahi explained his views on the state of archaeological sites in the West Bank.
"To maintain security, cooperation between the PA and Israel has been established in the West Bank for decades. To preserve antiquities, similar cooperation must be created. Currently, they don't want to cooperate with the PA but cry out that there is antiquities looting. It's clear there is antiquities looting; there's also car theft and other crimes. This is true in the West Bank and also in Israel. To preserve antiquities, cooperation with the PA is essential. Israelis say that cooperation is possible on security, but antiquities are 'only ours.' This is a fatal mistake.
"Palestinians live in many places within archaeological sites. This has always been the case. When they want to build a new house, they encounter problems. If you want to prevent the destruction of antiquities, allow them to build near the sites. That way, they won't damage the antiquities. Their needs must also be taken into account."
According to Mizrahi, Sebastia is a tragic story. "A great injustice has been done there. They (the Palestinians) preserve the site. They're proud of it, and yet the state takes it and leaves them with nothing. A sad story."
Part of the problem stems from the lack of organized information on the state of antiquity sites in the West Bank, the extent of damage to them and the immediate need to preserve certain sites. Five years ago, a right-wing organization called Preserving the Eternal ("Shomrim Al Hanetzach") attempted to fill this void.
Its members, who are not archaeologists, published a document titled "National Heritage Survey," whose purpose was "to provide a picture of the state of preservation and risk of national and world heritage sites in Judea and Samaria." The survey was conducted for the Shiloh Forum, a research institute on settlement founded by the Kohelet Policy Forum. The survey discusses hundreds of sites, but their full list has never been published.
The unequivocal conclusions of Preserving the Eternal were: "Before our eyes, one of the world's greatest heritage disasters is unfolding: 80 percent of the sites have been severely or moderately damaged, including all Category A sites, 10 of which have either been destroyed or are on the verge of destruction. [...] The result: 3,000 years of heritage are disappearing in 30 years."
Sebastia. This could have been a world-class heritage site.Credit: Itai RonSebastia. This could have been a world-class heritage site.Credit: Itai Ron
Experts and archaeologists note that the survey's authors are not professionals, the survey's methodology seemed amateurish to them and that the data was not fully published. Moshe Guttman, founder of Preserving the Eternal, did not respond to a request for an interview for this article.
Two years ago, Likud MK Amit Halevi proposed an amendment to the Antiquities Authority Law. The goal was to grant the Antiquities Authority responsibility and authority to operate in the West Bank, even though these areas are not within Israeli territory. The proposal met with broad opposition, including from the Antiquities Authority itself and the archaeological community.
Since then, Halevi has been promoting a different bill, called the "Heritage Authority for Judea and Samaria Law." Its purpose is to create a body parallel to the Antiquities Authority, which would operate in the West Bank. The Heritage Authority is intended to receive broad powers wherever there is a suspicion of antiquities.
There is hardly any place in the West Bank to which this definition does not apply. In the eyes of many, the Heritage Authority Law, which passed the first of three Knesset votes and is now being discussed in the Education Committee, is a significant step toward the annexation of the West Bank and the transfer of powers from the Civil Administration. The new authority will have the power to conduct excavations, declare sites, expropriate lands and more.
This is the first time an Israeli law would grant powers to a civilian body over PA territories and its citizens. Tami Sela, the legal adviser to the Knesset Education Committee, published a legal opinion stating that the proposed bill violates international law, raises legal difficulties and could be interpreted as annexation.
The proposal is exceptional and unprecedented because an Israeli civilian authority not subordinate to the Israel Defense Forces would receive powers in Palestinian territories and over PA citizens. Furthermore, the proposed law contradicts the Oslo Accords.
Alon Arad, executive director of Emek Shaveh, an Israeli nonprofit organization that advocates against the weaponization of archaeology for political purposes, explained in our conversation: "They are trying to create a new Antiquities Authority, and it's clear that the motivation is annexation, not antiquities. Everyone cries 'antiquities looting,' but no one has looked into it.
"During the discussions, everyone admits that the Civil Administration staff officer for archaeology has dramatically improved his capabilities thanks to increased budgets, meaning there is a solution. There's no dispute that the archeology officer was severely neglected in the past. There's also no doubt that there's a problem in the territories regarding the protection of antiquity sites. We accept that there's antiquities looting. The question is what to do. We don't know how many enforcement actions the archeology officer takes. They don't even tell us who is excavating and where. There's no transparency.
Sebastia. Sebastia boasts ancient splendor and wealth, with countless testimonies to the existence of a powerful kingdom.Credit: Itai RonSebastia. Sebastia boasts ancient splendor and wealth, with countless testimonies to the existence of a powerful kingdom.Credit: Itai Ron
"The law is first and foremost a planning tool. If we declare a place an archaeological site, there's no longer a need to expropriate it. The moment one unit is disconnected from the Civil Administration, complete chaos will ensue. The law will allow the Heritage Minister to declare historical sites wherever he pleases. This is dictatorial archaeology. Messianic science is a dangerous world."
Yonatan Mizrahi of Peace Now defined it this way: "Minister Eliyahu wants to establish the Heritage Authority, and that's real annexation already. It's insane because this authority will be responsible for all archaeological sites in the West Bank. The feeling is that people around us don't understand what this is about, how big this story is."
A Peace Now position paper stated: "The proposed Heritage Authority Law constitutes another significant step in the annexation of the West Bank and in the transfer of authorities away from the Civil Administration… The new Heritage Authority would be granted broader powers than those held by the Israel Antiquities Authority inside Israel with regard to land containing potential antiquities. This bill represents a political and diplomatic threat, opening the door to land appropriation and non-professional political appointments."
Let the world deal
Archaeologist Prof. Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University explained in our conversation last week that "the known fact is that there are many acts of antiquities looting in Judea and Samaria. They happen everywhere, including in Israel. The body responsible for enforcement in the territories is the archaeology staff officer in the Civil Administration. There is also damage to sites due to development activities, and the staff officer must deal with this, just as the Antiquities Authority deals with it within the Green Line.
Archaeology in Sebastia.Credit: Itai RonArchaeology in Sebastia.Credit: Itai Ron
"My opinion on the establishment of the Heritage Authority is negative. There is no such thing in any other field. It's creating a sense of archaeological annexation of Area C, and this will have severe international implications. Israeli science is under attack. There is a danger of canceling the European Union's 'Horizon' program that sustains Israeli science. We should not give them additional reasons to hurt us. If it comes out that a scientific field falls under the heading of annexation, we will all be hurt by the European Union. We have countless collaborations with them, and they will all disappear.
"I don't understand the benefit of this authority. Add the Heritage Authority's budget to the archeology officer and let him keep working. It's true that the archeology officer's budgets were small. He supplements himself with additional budgets, some of which came from the Heritage Ministry. Strengthen him – give him additional budgets, but don't establish a new authority."
Prof. Mazar is among those who signed an appeal from the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities to the prime minister, which stated: "The enactment of a special law establishing a statutory corporation with authority over enforcement and archaeological and heritage research in Judea and Samaria, under the auspices of the Ministry of Heritage, will be perceived in the political and academic worlds as an act of annexation in the Judea and Samaria areas. This will undoubtedly lead to an immediate deterioration in Israel's international relations in the field of archaeology, and it will also affect other areas of science and research.
"We therefore call upon the government and the Committee to refrain from advancing the proposed legislation and to leave the field of archaeology in Judea and Samaria in the hands of the Staff Officer for Archaeology Unit, which operates within the framework of the Civil Administration in close cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority."
Sebastia. Ancient agricultural terraces.Credit: Itai RonSebastia. Ancient agricultural terraces.Credit: Itai Ron
The Antiquities Authority responded to this article as follows: "The Antiquities Authority is a professional-statutory body in the State of Israel. The issue of enforcement in Judea and Samaria is not within its jurisdiction, and therefore we will not address the matter."
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories responded: "The Civil Administration, led by the staff officer for archaeology, operates continuously and proactively to preserve, protect and develop archaeological sites and heritage assets of historical importance throughout Judea and Samaria. Concurrently, the staff officer for archaeology leads extensive enforcement activity against damage to sites and antiquities looting. The Civil Administration, including the staff officer for archaeology, operates according to its authorities, by law and in accordance with the directives of the political echelon, and will work to implement any decision made on the matter." The request to interview Staff Officer for Archaeology Benny Har Even was not answered.
Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu explained in an interview for this article: "It would have been appropriate for this to happen under the Antiquities Authority, but due to the opposition that arose, there is no choice but to establish another government corporation. We do have an excellent staff officer for archaeology, but he is not an authority. He is completely dependent on me.
"If the Heritage Ministry invests budgets in him, he will grow. We increased his budget from 5 million shekels a year to 70 million shekels a year, but he lacks stability and the ability to operate long-term. Therefore, establishing a new corporation is important. We failed to expand the Antiquities Authority's jurisdiction, so we proposed establishing an equivalent of the Antiquities Authority in Judea and Samaria."
This is essentially annexation.
"I don't look at what the world will say, annexation or not. In 1948, they told Ben-Gurion that if he declared the establishment of Israel, it would be the end of the world. Then they said that if we designated Jerusalem as the capital, everyone would boycott us. None of that happened. It's no secret that I think the Oslo Accords, which were a mistake, should be canceled.
"In practice, right now, that's not the point. We want to manage the sites in Judea and Samaria more efficiently. The work being done now is not organizationally correct. The staff officer for archaeology has great dedication, but they need the right organizational tool. We need to operate like the Israel Electric Corporation operates in Judea and Samaria and like the Israel Nature and Parks Authority operates there. The Heritage Authority Law, in my view, is an organizational law, not a political law."
We left Sebastia in the afternoon. A few hours later, someone sent me a video showing a bus stopping in the antiquity site's parking lot, from which about a dozen young people wearing kippot disembarked. An IDF jeep was parked next to the bus. The person who reported it explained that these visitors stayed at the site until 9 P.M. and returned the next morning. I don't know if they weeded or cleaned the waste scattered there.
The next day, Haaretz reported, citing a source in the coalition, that discussions in the Education Committee on the proposed bill to establish an Antiquities Authority in the West Bank were halted due to the opposition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. To be continued.
