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Heritage in flames: historical sites are destroyed - and the country remains indifferent Israel today

2022-08-05T08:07:20.118Z


Valuable antiquities are looted, archaeological mounds are broken up and their materials are taken for construction, and historical complexes are burned under the pretext of "cleaning the area" • More and more Jewish heritage sites in Judea and Samaria are being damaged by Palestinians, and the settlers accuse that this is a deliberate, cynical and systematic operation - to which the State of Israel remains indifferent • Manager In the "Keeping the Eternal" organization: "We are on the eve of Tisha B'Av - and we see how the destruction continues. It's terrible"


When they settled in Yosh about two weeks ago, they rubbed their eyes in astonishment. Only a few days have passed since the start of their surveillance of the new and illegal activity of the Palestinian Authority to take over Sebastia, and the thousand-year-old archaeological site has already been burned. In aerial footage taken from a drone, Palestinians are seen setting fires around the area, They burn twigs to clean, as they say, the area. Even if it wasn't a deliberate arson, the result remains painful: the entire site went up in flames.

Sebastia is, perhaps, the point of view that most represents Judea and Samaria, since near it, in the abandoned train station from Saudi Arabia, the Jewish settlement movement in Samaria began in the mid-1970s.

The pictures of the fire at the site are difficult to watch, and the destruction of the ancient site, which includes the palace of Ahab, the king of Israel during the days of the Kingdom of Israel in the Bible, was enormous.

The fire spread quickly, and a significant part of the land turned its color from brown to black.

The Israeli activists only saw in retrospect the tremendous damage caused by it, and that it is clear to everyone that it will take years to repair, if at all.

Given the status of the place, which is actually divided between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, it seems that any attempt to fix it will mainly encounter difficulties.

One thing is almost indisputable: Judea and Samaria stores in its landscape an essential part of the history of the people of Israel and of the entire world.

According to Jewish tradition, the three fathers of the nation - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - settled in Nablus, walked the Efrat road and lived in Hebron.

In Bethel, according to the Torah, the Jacob's Ladder event took place, in the Cave of the Patriarchs they buried the fathers and mothers - Sarah, Rebecca and Leah - and in the Valley of Dotan Joseph was kidnapped to Egypt.

Even when the Israelites returned to Canaan, after the exile in Egypt, they walked in the way of their ancestors.

Gideon ben Yoash was from the city of Oprah, Samuel the prophet served in the sanctuary in the Tabernacle at Shiloh, and King David lived in Bethlehem.

Over the years, after the people of Israel were exiled from their land, various peoples arrived in the region, including the Byzantines, the Muslims, the Crusaders, the Mamluks and the Ottomans.

In each period, additional layers were added to the history of this region, which made it one of the most intriguing in the world.

The land, which was the cradle of Judaism and the cradle of Christianity, is still a fertile ground for archaeologists seeking to uncover its past - large parts of which are still hidden from view.

Palestinian graffiti at the site of Ptolemy's tomb in Samaria, photo: Photo: "If You Want" movement

However, while the entire world embraces the biblical history of the Land of Israel and is excited by significant archaeological discoveries, there are those who prefer to deny this history outright - the Palestinians.

According to the local and regional councils in Judea and Samaria, in recent decades the Palestinian Authority has been making "active, predatory and savage attempts" to erase history and rewrite it.

Heritage sites were physically destroyed, artifacts were intentionally broken and disappeared, and harsh graffiti, pro-terrorist organizations and anti-Jewish, was sprayed on the ancient stones.

Bandits, whose activities sometimes seem to have a hand directed from above, due to the great knowledge they have accumulated, forcibly broke into thousands of years old compounds, wreaked havoc and stole from everyone nearby.

The actual rewriting of history manifests itself in every corner, including an attempt to take over distinct Jewish ancient sites, such as Tel Aroma in Samaria, which contains an ancient Hasmonean fortress on which Abimelech was king, or the massive destruction of sites such as Tel Teko, where the prophet Amos may be buried.

Written proofs of the rewriting of history, which many believe is blatant and unrestrained, can be found in the virtual Palestinian museum, which operates on the Internet.

The organizers of the museum ignore, for example, the fact of the existence of the two Jewish temples, and also the upheavals that led to the exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel for more than 2,000 years.

The virtual museum, an elaborate and interactive website that allows scrolling through the different periods in the region and unfolds the history of the place - as mentioned while ignoring the people of Israel - was established and financed by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Among other things, it is described In it the Greek occupation of the Land of Israel, alongside the claim that this occupation "continued until the Roman army entered Palestine in 63 BC".

However, according to the accepted consensus among archaeologists and historians, backed by thousands of books created from ancient times to the present day, as well as finds in the field, from 152 BC to 63 BC the Hasmoneans ruled the Land of Israel, who established a magnificent kingdom there.

The ancient Tel Samaria, Sebastia, is considered one of the oldest archaeological sites in the region, and its excavation began 112 years ago on behalf of researchers from Harvard University in the USA. It is an ancient city that was used in the 9th and 8th centuries BC as the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, and was founded by Omri and his son Ahab.

Graffiti "In memory of the martyrs"

Sebastia was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire during the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel and the exile of the Ten Tribes, and was later rebuilt by King Herod.

Among other things, part of the Citadel of the House of Kings of Israel, the Temple of Augustus, the Forum and the Basilica, as well as remains of a stadium and an amphitheater were found at its archaeological site.

Due to its importance, the site was previously declared a national park and managed by the Nature and Parks Authority.

Following the Oslo Accords in 1993, responsibility for the place was divided in two - half to the Palestinians and half to the Israelis.

Following the division, a battle broke out over the site, where the Palestinians are trying to take over more and more, and Israel is trying to stop it.

"Until about two years ago, a kind of status quo was maintained at the site. The Palestinians used to 'steal' a little from the Israeli territory - they robbed titles (decorations found at the top of ancient pillars) and coins, but not beyond that," says Adi Shargai, director of operations for the organization "Keepers of the Eternal" .

"About two years ago, even though it is not their territory, they began to line the extension on the site, the central city square and the forum. They built a huge parking lot with a 15-meter-high mast, on which a Palestinian flag was hung. All this was done, of course, without supervision - and within Destroy the remains."

Seats that were smashed in the amphitheater in Sebastia, to steal what was under them.

"This is a very professional squad, which had prior knowledge that only archaeologists have,"

In November 2020, during a visit by the then Minister of Tourism, Yariv Levin, and the head of the Samaria Council, Yossi Dagan, Palestinian antique dealers offered them coins they found in the area.

"They approached us suddenly and offered us stolen coins from the site, and when we said that it was Israel's tourism minister - they replied that they would give him a discount," Dagan recalled.

In December 2021, bandits, apparently Palestinians, uprooted a magnificent seat stone in the amphitheater of Sebastia and revealed a space that led under its seats.

"It was a very professional squad, which had prior knowledge that only archaeologists have," says Shargai.

"They 'stabbed' three moshavs, broke beautiful decorated seats of honor and robbed antiquities from an underground space they found underneath them. We checked with the great experts, no one knew this pit before."

Tremendous damage to the Sebastia site, photo: Keepers of the Eternal

At the beginning of last month, according to "Keepers of Eternity" and the Samaria Council, the Palestinians significantly increased their attempts to take over the site, as part of its rebranding as a Canaanite-Palestinian heritage site.

The municipality of Sebastia on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, along with the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Palestinian security forces, initiated a 100-day program for "clean-up" works - and Palestinian police officers were documented working in this spirit on the site.

At the request of Yossi Dagan, an enforcement patrol by the IDF and the Civil Administration took place at the site. The illegal work done in the archaeological complex was stopped, and the Palestinian workers were transferred for investigation. Criminal proceedings are now being taken against them - but this did not help. A short time later, another defiant activity took place on the part of the Palestinian Authority, which was documented This activity ended, as mentioned, in the burning of the place and the enormous damage it caused.

"These are heritage deniers who burn what doesn't suit them," Dagan accuses the Palestinian Authority.

And Shargai angrily adds: "That's why they burned the palace on the site. They seem to have come to clean it, but you don't burn an archaeological site. You have to understand: according to Jordanian law, if there is evidence that you are working on an excavation site and you harmed it - you are guilty until proven innocent. We have Pictures of Palestinian policemen with hoes, and you can stop them.

"We have golden evidence, but no one does anything. The Civil Administration does nothing to stop these dire phenomena. After we sent them documentation of the Palestinian police, they said they would get there. An inspector came and gave warnings, and the next day the Palestinians burned down the palace. A sad joke."

Dagan: "This is a clear trend - a barbaric and strategic ISIS-style super-project, designed to deliberately crush and damage Jewish heritage sites and erase history. It is impossible to interpret this otherwise. The Palestinian Authority works with ISIS doctrine, time and time again, with deliberate intent and in a cynical attempt to distort history. For us, this is a battle for archaeology, Jewish heritage and human civilization, no less."

Sebastian is not alone.

This week it was published in "Israel Hayom" that the Palestinian Authority recently announced that they intend to establish a "Palestinian National Garden" in Tel Aroma, and this after many actions were taken to sow destruction there.

Since it is a Hasmonean fortress, from the royal dynasty that is denied in the virtual Palestinian museum, there are those who see the move as "a joke at our expense, the Jews."

At the site, which as mentioned is considered critical to understanding Jewish history in the Land of Israel, already in 2009 heavy destruction was caused and antiquities were looted by Palestinians.

Recently, a huge mosque "in memory of the martyrs" was built there, and a Hasmonean fortification wall with a unique Herodian addition has disappeared.

Here, too, the Palestinians hung a huge flag.

Palestinian flag in Tel Aroma,

On the slope near the Tel, Palestinian agricultural works have been taking place for a long time, financed by the United Nations. In this case, the responsibility does not fall on the Civil Administration, because it is Area B, where civil control is in the hands of the Palestinians. However, activists say, in other cases of environmental pollution and the like, Israel accepts A strategic decision to go inside and act, and "here, too, a decision from above is required."

Another example of extensive destruction of history and archeology is discovered in the village of Deir Sharaf, located not far from the ancient Tel Samaria.

A Palestinian business is operating there that causes environmental destruction, while trampling an archaeological polygon, a complex where it is checked if there are any archaeological findings.

This polygon is easily and clearly visible in aerial photography.

In this archaeological site, called Al-Khirba, there are the remains of an impressive Samaritan synagogue, which is attributed to the period of the Second Temple.

Benches, columns and mosaics were discovered there, including a beautiful mosaic with a description of a lamp which is currently displayed in the "Good Samaritan Museum", not far from the city of Ma'ale Adumim.

Five years ago, an illegal Palestinian car scraper began operating near the site.

The scrapyard has slowly expanded, and the scrap cars it handles are lying in the area of ​​the archaeological site, and car parts are dumped at various points.

The damage of the scrapers, it must be explained, is not limited to damage to the findings on the surface of the ground, but also includes the percolation of harmful chemicals into the ground, which in turn may damage the historical remains found below the surface.

Scraping a car meters from an archaeological site, photo: Regavim

The activity of the scraper is known to the Civil Administration.

Inspectors from the KMT Archeology Unit conduct patrols at the site, and if necessary also issue stop-work orders. However, the harmful activity of the Palestinians, say the organizations that monitor what is happening there, continues.

A few months ago, the Civil Administration marked the site, but the Israeli organizations operating there revealed that the polygon area, as drawn, "takes into account" the scraper and excludes it from the boundaries of the archaeological site.

"Instead of correcting the flaw and declaring the boundaries of the site as required according to archaeological standards, the kosher administration gave a license to a criminal," says the Regavim organization, which monitors construction violations and "Palestinian takeover" of territories in Judea and Samaria.

"The scraper is a vanguard"

Since marking the site, the activists have recognized that the Palestinians have invaded beyond the boundaries of the polygon, and are advancing towards the remains at the site.

The administration claims that an order was given to dispose of the scrap.

In response to the request of the Regavim organization, it was stated that "if necessary, enforcement procedures will be taken in accordance with the procedures, and the implementation of the enforcement will be determined according to the priorities and subject to operational considerations."

The Bregavivs say that this is a response to the complaint that the administration provides in any such case.

"During routine drone photography that we conduct to document and control the illegal takeover of Area C by Palestinians, I spotted a car scraper that was unusual in size and decided to take a closer look," says Menesh Shmueli, coordinator of the youth movement in the Regavim movement. , an area full of Jewish history and heritage sites.

I entered the road leading to the Palestinian scrapyard, which is right next to the main road.

Already from a distance I recognized huge piles of cars and car parts.

As I approached, some vehicles blocked the road, and I asked the Palestinian workers instead to move them.

"I continued a little further down the path, until I discovered before my eyes the shocking sight of archaeological remains dominated by abandonment and neglect, and between them and within them are strewn parts of vehicles, from doors and windshields to engines and exhaust pipes. I got out of the vehicle and walked between the columns and parts of the walls, which used to be used by a magnificent Samaritan synagogue, and the smell of rubber Burnt and airborne machine oil.

They want to protect the antiquities, photo: Guarding eternity

"I wandered among the archaeological remains, and at a distance of a few meters from me I saw a lively movement of Israeli and Palestinian vehicles arriving for a quick and cheap scraper repair. You have to understand, the Palestinians do not skimp on any means in the campaign on the open spaces, and they see every owner of such a scraper as a vanguard in the struggle. Against this The State of Israel turns a blind eye, and worse - acts with selective enforcement, as we saw just this week in the evacuation of a 'warm corner for the soldier' ​​building in Nokud settlement.

The damage caused to some of the archaeological sites is enormous.

In the documentation provided to us by the "Keepers of Eternity" organization, an umbrella organization that brings together a series of bodies, local authorities and organizations that have come together in a broad coalition to protect antiquities in Israel, we see sites that have been trampled and destroyed by the Palestinian Authority or by robbers, who sometimes operate unhindered under the auspices of the Wild West in Judea and Samaria.

A tour following the damage of antiquities robbers in the Horkania fortress,

Thus, for example, in late 2020 and early 2021, a Palestinian Authority contractor destroyed part of the compound wall at the site of the ancient altar on Mount Ibal, near Nablus, which dates back to the Iron Age, in order to build a road between the village of Asira a-Shamalia and Nablus.

He even ground the stones of the wall to produce gravel for paving the road.

In the cave of the skulls in the fortress of Horkania in the Judean desert, robbers broke into the system of water cisterns and sowed destruction in the place.

It should be emphasized here that the Archeology Department of the Civil Administration works against bandits, but their forces are weak and inadequate. Even in the Jewish settlement, the finger of blame is not pointed solely at the administration, and it is acknowledged that a decision is needed on the part of the decision makers to strengthen them and act against the criminals - the private and the more institutionalized - in all the necessary power.

In the documentation that recently arrived from Tel Teko, the site appears to be destroyed and defaced, full of holes and perforations made by antiquities robbers.

At the site, which is located about two kilometers south of the settlement of Toku, many findings from the Canaanite period - the days of the First Temple were discovered, and there is a tradition that identifies the tomb of the prophet Amos in one of the caves near the Palestinian village of Toku, which is close to the site.

The damage at Tel Teko, photo: Keepers of the Eternal

The mound has not been comprehensively explored so far, with the exception of spot excavations, and it suffers from widespread robberies by professional squads that use metal detectors and dig along the historical layers and buildings on the site - in broad daylight.

In July 2020, after the KMT Archeology unit seized a thousand-year-old Byzantine baptismal basin that was looted from the mound and was found in the yard of Mukhtar of the village of Toku, the Palestinian Authority called the move "the robbery of Palestinian heritage by Israel."

Shargai: "Tukua is an important city that is mentioned in the Bar Kochva scrolls, but the residents of the village of Tokua are dismantling its site. This place will never be excavated again, and we will never know what was there."

The head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, Shlomo Na'eman, also attacks the conduct of the Palestinians: "As in all the heritage sites, the Joshua Altar, Mount Ebal, the Cave of the Patriarchs and of course the Temple Mount, so too in Gush Etzion - the Arabs loot antiquities and destroy archaeological sites and make great efforts to erase the proofs of our deep connection to this country. I certainly hope that the authorities will put an end to this noel attempt. But it doesn't matter: no matter how much they dig and how much they try - they have no chance. This is our country. They are trying in vain."

Shlomo Naaman, head of the Gush Etzion Council, photo: Spokesperson of the Gush Etzion Regional Council

The authorities and organizations in Yosh point the finger of blame at the authorities of the State of Israel, who in their opinion are not doing enough to fight the Palestinian takeover of the heritage sites. "80 percent of the archaeological sites in Yosh are damaged. We give them our heritage assets and turn a blind eye," accuses Shargai, "this It doesn't matter if you are right-wing or left-wing - you must make sure that something of what is found here will be passed on to future generations. There are heritage properties of the whole world here, and the country is raised in the world heritage.

"In the Hasmonean palaces near Jericho, the control is half Israeli and half Palestinian. On the Israeli side, protection is paid to local workers who guard the site, while on the Palestinian side, 50 meters away, they erased one of the things that every beginning student of archeology learns about - the submerged waves of Herod. A Bedouin went there who wanted to Build a house, dismantle the place with a bulldozer - and that's it. 2,000 years of history is over.

"We are on the eve of Tisha B'Av, and we see how the destruction continues. It's terrible. The government stops all excavations in Yosh, and excavates only in individual sites like in Shiloh.

The Hasmonean palaces, Hurkaniya, have never been explored.

Hurkania is like a mini Masada, but the place has never been excavated, and in this place everything is full of graffiti, displaced, looted.

The legacy is erased.

"When they look at our generation in the future, it will be a shame and a shame. All the government ministers cluck their tongues, but do nothing. We have received endless empathy, but zero action. A real disaster is happening in YOSHUA, like ISIS, and some of it is happening while the State of Israel closes its eyes.

Just as the Nazis burned the Talmud, so the Palestinians erase Jewish remains - and the State of Israel ignores it."

"A real national disgrace"

The If You Want movement points to another example in the field, which they claim illustrates that in some cases the administration is even considering giving a "reward" to those who destroy heritage.

This is a Ptolemaic tomb, a burial site from the Second Temple period located near the settlement of Kiryat Netafim in Samaria.

The place is referred to by the Palestinians as "Dir a-Darv", and has been targeted for a long time by the residents of the village of Karvat Bnei Hassan, a hostile Palestinian village from which the terrorists who murdered the late security guard Vyacheslav Golev at the entrance to Ariel left a few months ago.

During a tour conducted by members of the If You Want movement at the site, a few months ago, illegal works carried out by Palestinians on the site were revealed, including the installation of a new fence designed to prevent entry to the compound.

Within the site itself, graffiti inscriptions glorifying the "al-Aqsa Brigades" and the "Islamic resistance movement Hamas" were discovered.

A lot of damage was also discovered caused by bonfires that were lit on the spot, along with leftover garbage, empty bottles, cigarette butts and more.

According to a tour guide, one of the magnificent support columns of the tomb was taken by the residents of the Palestinian village for construction.

"Terror apparently pays."

Matan Peleg, photo: Dodi Vaaknin

In response to the request if you will, the civil administration replied that the work on the site had been stopped, but that we would also consider giving the residents of the village the opportunity to develop the place.

"The village council of Karvat Bnei Hassan began development work on the site without prior coordination or obtaining a permit to carry out the work. At the beginning of October, the work on the site was stopped by the KMT Archeology Unit," replied Deputy Yoav Bar-Ness, the freedom of information officer at the office of the head of the Civil Administration. He added and noted that "after the work was stopped, the village council submitted a request for the development of the site's environment.

The request is being examined by the Civil Administration and the Archeology Committee."

We will note that in response to "Shishab"'s request, the administration denied these things, and said that such a consideration is not at all on the agenda.

"The fact that the people of the Civil Administration are considering giving a reward to a village of murderers and rioters, so that they manage a Jewish heritage site, indicates that terrorism is probably paying off," raged the chairman of the If You Want movement, Matan Peleg. "Instead of making sure that no terrorist address is written, instead of throwing the rioters out of The stairs, the Civil Administration treats the village as a criminal organization that must be paid sponsorship fees.

The preservation of the lands of the Land of Israel is not possible under the Civil Administration.

This body has finished its role."

Yossi Dagan: "The governments of Israel behave like the last of the talkbackists, they provide talk like sand - and there is nothing to eat. Absolute lawlessness on the part of our governments. I stand and marvel at the helplessness of the government, which does nothing. The State of Israel is a signatory to international treaties that oblige it to protect these sites , and she is promoted in her position. This is a very serious thing that must be shouted and cried about, to go out into the streets of a city. This is at the most basic level of civilization. A real national disgrace.

"One of the important laments we read on Tisha B'Av is 'Ohaliba', in which it is described how Samaria and Jerusalem argue between themselves about which destruction is greater, i.e. which of them suffered more destruction.

"Our palaces are being burned by an entity that is like ISIS. Have you seen Yosef's tomb burned again and again? Who does such things except ISIS and the Palestinian Authority? What human being does such a thing?

"We are responsible for this destruction, responsible for stopping them. I have every hope that as the lament ends, 'Please heal their brokenness and console their mourning, for you are broken and you are their doe, new in our days as in the days of old, and you will not say that Zion has forsaken me, God' - the same will happen here. We must To save our heritage from those who seek to trample, burn and destroy it."

"Complaints are handled"

The Unit for the Coordination of Government Actions in the Territories stated: "The Civil Administration takes very seriously the damage and destruction of archaeological sites in the Judea and Samaria region. The claims presented in your application are recognized by the professionals in the Civil Administration and treated accordingly. 

"We would like to emphasize that the Civil Administration invests a lot of effort and resources in researching and maintaining the archaeological sites in the territories of Judea and Samaria, alongside promoting enforcement activities against antiquities robbers and buildings that were erected in the heart of archaeological sites.

"Regarding Ptolemy's Tomb: The Archeology Commander in the Civil Administration recently issued a warning order for the destruction of antiquities against lawbreakers who illegally carried out work at the archaeological site Ptolemy's Tomb, near the village of Karvat Bnei Hassan in the Ephraim sector.

Contrary to what is claimed in your application, no possibility is being considered to allow external parties to participate in the archaeological excavations at the site, since these will be carried out by the KMT Archeology unit and the relevant professional parties on behalf of the Civil Administration only. 

"The KMT Archeology Unit believes in the preservation of the archaeological sites in the territories of Judea and Samaria and makes great efforts to eradicate damage and destruction at these sites.

At the same time, the Civil Administration invests a lot of effort and resources in researching and developing the archaeological sites in the region."

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Source: israelhayom

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