Heritage under siege

Israel’s occupation regime is set to expropriate 1,800 dunums (about 450 acres) of privately owned land in the northern West Bank for the development of an archaeological dig at the ancient city of Sabastia near Nablus. Said to have been inhabited since the 9th century BC and formerly known as Samaria, Sebastia was the capital of the northern Israeli kingdom which existed during the first half of the 10th century BC. Sebastia was conquered by the Assyrians in 720 BC and became an administrative centre under the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Romans, Muslim Arabs and Ottomans.

The modern village of Sebastia – which has about 3,200 Palestinian inhabitants – hosts an historic mosque built within the premises of a Christian church, Roman royal tombs, and medieval buildings as well as a Roman amphitheatre. It has regarded as a world heritage site by UNESCO.

The expropriation order, issued last week, covers the archaeological site and Palestinian-owned land planted with thousands of olive trees. Palestinian landowners have been given 14 days to file legal objections to the seizure and to their eventual expulsion from the area. This is the largest antiquities-related West Bank expropriation order issued since the 1967 Israeli occupation. Israel has always ignored international law which prohibits occupiers from carrying out excavations in areas they control. Nevertheless, in May 2023, Israel allocated $9.2 million for the archaeological excavations and development at Sebastia.

Anti-occupation Peace Now issued a a statement which said: “Israel continues to harm Palestinian rights, expropriating thousands of dunams in violation of international law and settling the northern West Bank, an area with only a few thousand settlers compared with more than a million Palestinians.” Peace Now warned, “Israeli greed harms not only the landowners, but also the prospect of a peaceful solution that upholds the rights and heritage of both peoples.”

An Israeli anti-occupation group founded by archaeologists, Emek Shaveh, argued, “Under the guise of concern for heritage, the government is investing tens of millions in turning heritage sites into weapons of dispossession and annexation.” The group added, “The intention to expropriate private land is anything but preservation; its purpose is to establish a tourism settlement that will detach Sebastia’s heritage from the [Palestinian] town and Judaize the area through the tourists who visit the site.”

While striving to discover, develop and preserve Jewish archaeological remains, Israel neglects or even harms non-Jewish or Palestinian heritage. This amounts to weaponizing archaeology, Israel’s aim is to assert the Jewish presence in Palestine in order to claim the legitimacy of the modern Jewish state at the expense of the indigenous Palestinians.

A 2018 joint report by Yesh Din, Volunteers for Human Rights, and Emek Shaveh, which opposes the politicisation of archaeology, condemned this policy. They stated: “Since 1967, Israel has endeavoured to appropriate the archaeological assets of the West Bank, based on the view that the Jewish heritage of places and antiquities testifies to a bond between the antiquities and the state of Israel, and constitutes a justification for deepening its control over ancient sites. This perception underlies every aspect of Israel’s archaeological practices in the West Bank.

“Israel’s control enables the physical exclusion of Palestinians from the sites and ancient finds through various means, ultimately weakening their connection to their heritage. It also enables Israel to shape the historical narrative of the sites by highlighting and glorifying their significance for the Jewish people and downplaying the role of other peoples and cultures who also had a part in the history of the region.”

During its latest war on Gaza, Israel has damaged or destroyed more than 316 archaeological sites and buildings. Most have been from the Mamluk and Ottoman eras but others date to the early Islamic centuries and the Byzantine period. Israeli bombardment inflicted 70 per cent damage on the Qasr al-Basha museum, a Mamluk-era palace located on a UNESCO heritage site dating back to 800 BC. Some 20,000 ancient and medieval artifacts stored in the museum were looted when Israeli troops occupied the site.

UNESCO has reported damage to the Saint Hilarion Monastery, one of the oldest Christian heritage sites in the region, and the 7th century Omari Mosque, Gaza’s main place of Muslim worship. Teams have been compelled to scrabble in the ruins of these buildings for material for restoration.

In August, Israel appropriated 63 Palestinian West Bank archaeological sites, violating international law and Israel’s obligations as an occupying power. Fifty-nine are in Nablus governate, three in Ramallah governorate, and one in Salfit governorate. Sixty-three were declared “Israeli historical and archaeological sites.” In total, Israel has taken over 2,400 out of 6,000 Palestinian sites in the West Bank. The process of excavation can be destructive if the archaeologists involved have political motivations and retrieve only what suits them while wiping out layers above the layer or layers they seek to explore. While engaged in denying Palestinians access to their heritage, Israeli archaeological organisations wage turf wars with each other.

Photo: TNS