The Palestinian Authority continues the blatant erasure of Jewish history in Judea and Samaria: The Authority recently announced that they intend to establish a Palestinian national park at Tel Aroma, an important Hasmonean fortress overlooking the Itamar Ridge.
The statement comes after many cases of the destruction of archeology at the site.
The Tel Aroma site includes the remains of Aroma, a biblical ruling city, where Abimelech was king.
In the place there are historical findings that testify to a Jewish presence in the place in the biblical period, and there is also a Hasmonean fortress with large ancient water reservoirs next to it.
In recent years, the Palestinian Authority has been carrying out various works on the site that damage the antiquities.
The destruction began in 2009, when Palestinians arrived in the area with tractors and heavy equipment, and destroyed the place and looted antiquities.
The mosque that was built on the site, photo: "Keepers of the Eternal"
It was also discovered from a tour conducted by the organization "Keepers of Eternity" at the site, that a Hasmonean fortification wall with a unique Herodian addition of decorated stones was stolen and disappeared.
We note that this is a site located in area B, something that limits the arrival of Jews to visit the place and at the same time preserve the finds that exist there.
The Palestinians flattened the top of the mound with a digger, severely damaging archaeological findings that may have been underground, and placed a huge flag on the site that was visible from the entire area.
Around the mound there are agricultural works financed by the United Nations Agency for Agricultural Assistance.
The envelope of the new national garden, which is being established even though the Palestinians have no connection to the Hasmoneans, they intend to build on half of the mound, apparently while demolishing the original walls of the site.
Head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, photo: Tzachi Miriam
The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, said that this is a dangerous escalation: "In recent years, we have witnessed a new type of terrorism, whose purpose is to harm Jewish history in Samaria. The Palestinian Authority is working to destroy any historical evidence that Samaria, along with the entire Land of Israel, belongs to the people of Israel . We saw it in the destruction of Joshua's altar on Mount Ebal, the place of the blessing stand, upon the entry of the people of Israel into the land; we saw it in the takeover of Tel Aroma, where there is no dispute about the findings found there and their connection to the Hasmoneans; and we also saw it in other places in Samaria."
"I call on the government of Israel, the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Internal Security to act as soon as possible and protect these important places. Just as no other country in the world would allow the history of its people to be harmed, we too must not allow rioters from the Palestinian Authority to harm our history. Tel Aroma is the heritage of a people Israel is an important part of the history of the Jewish people, and we must not stand by when the place is systematically destroyed," Dagan said.
The "Keepers of Eternity" organization stated: "The Hasmonean fortress waited for us for 3,000 years, and now it is being destroyed by the Palestinian Authority, under the auspices of the deafening silence of the Israeli government, which did nothing to prevent the destruction, under the flimsy excuse that it handed over civil affairs to the Palestinian Authority. Heritage Global is not a local civil matter, it is a matter of all human heritage and human culture. The Israeli government will have to explain on a legal and moral level how it allows the deletion of the site."
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
