During my stay in one of the European countries last week, I was invited by a member of the parliament of that country to visit a historical site important to the locals. "This is a significant component of our cultural heritage and the roots planted here in previous centuries," the host boasted, but immediately added: "Significant, but it certainly pales in comparison to the sites you have in Israel. After all, every site in your country cries out that you, the Jews, have immeasurably ancient roots in the Holy Land, and no one can cancel it."
At that moment, I was happy and ashamed. I was delighted, because I realized that the MP in question recognizes the simple historical truth and knows that the Jews are the rightful owners of the Promised Land. I was ashamed, because I remembered that many in Israel forget what he knows. Moreover, even more are indifferent or blind to the enormous importance of heritage sites.
I nodded to the host in agreement and did not tell him, for example, about the hardships that the unique archaeological site in Sebastia has endured in recent years. Thousands of years ago, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel was located here, and alongside valuable finds from all periods, the remains of the ancient palace of the kings of Israel are found at the site. It would not be an exaggeration to state that these remains literally have no price and must be preserved. Nevertheless, the opposite has happened: for years, the Palestinian Authority has deliberately damaged the antiquities of Sebastia in order to erase Jewish history, or to appropriate it for itself.
In recent times, the destruction has intensified, and the audacity of the Palestinian Authority representatives has crossed all limits. Not content with demonstrating PLO flags at the site, they moved on to systematic destruction, culminating in their attempt to pave a road inside the ancient site. The result was terrible – during the work the Herodian wall was completely destroyed and burial caves from the Second Temple period were breached, and apparently additional artifacts were looted. It is reported that PA activists even threw pig carcasses into the ancient graves in order to symbolically demonstrate their opinion of those who were here thousands of years before them and to show how much they flout the law and the preservation of Jewish and global heritage.
I was so embarrassed that I couldn't tell MP about what happened to the site. I am sure that if he had heard from me how the Jewish state suffered the prolonged damage to its heritage, he would have uttered only one thing: "Are you crazy?"
This week I learned that I could be less ashamed. The government's decision regarding the site in Sebastia is supposed to put an end to the disgrace that took place there. The site will be rehabilitated, areas that have not yet been exposed will be mapped (before antiquities robbers steal them from all of us), and proper enforcement will finally be carried out against illegal construction and deliberate destruction by the Palestinian Authority.
Let's hope that these steps will lead to the actual return of the site to the State of Israel and its citizens, and after years of neglect, the heritage of all civilized people, and of the Jewish people in particular, will return to make us happy and enrich. However, saving Sebastia, ancient Samaria, must not forget that many other important sites throughout Judea and Samaria are being destroyed by the thuggish hand of those who dream of expelling the Jews from the land of the forefathers. The time has come for all of us to understand what a politician from a distant country understands: these are our roots, and our enemies should not be allowed to cut them off.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us