Peservation and protection is a necessity so that something of biblical heritage remains for future generations. So that the land of the Bible is not erased by Palestinian aggression and denialism.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-810013
Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) are rich with Jewish national heritage sites.
It is the Biblical heartland. The physical record of the Biblical narrative lies in the ground with hundreds of known archaeological sites, and perhaps thousands of yet undiscovered sites, providing incontrovertible evidence that connects the Jewish People to the Land of Israel.
This is precisely why the Palestinian Authority is systematically destroying archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria, purposefully plundering and erasing Jewish antiquities.
This week the Government of Israel took a first step towards halting the wanton annihilation of Jewish heritage.
For the first time since Israeli archaeological activists conducted in 2020 a broadscale survey of some 300 sites under Palestinian assault, the government decided to back a bill in Knesset, introduced by Likud MK Amit Halevi, that would extend the purview of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to Judea and Samaria – to manage and preserve historical sites.
The IAA is a globally respected professional scientific agency with considerable budget, real enforcement capacity, and a theft prevention unit.
Until now, archaeological sites in the West Bank have been the responsibility of the IDF Central Command and its Civil Administration (COGAT) – which have no bandwidth for this issue. The Civil Administration’s “Archaeology Staff Officer Office” is a department without clear policy guidelines and with no enforcement capabilities.
he Archaeology Officer hasn’t even managed to formally demarcate the boundaries of most heritage sites in Judea and Samaria, making it impossible to prevent illegal PA construction and agricultural projects which (again, purposefully) overrun these sites.
Archaic interpretations of the Oslo Accords by Israeli legal advisers have gotten in the way too. They have argued against Israel’s ability to intervene to protect Jewish heritage sites in Area B of the territories, despite the obvious and outrageous PA campaign to obliterate every Jewish/Israeli site possible.
The 2020 survey was conducted by an NGO called “Preserving the Eternal” and backed by Israel Heritage Preservation Center and the Shiloh Forum. The survey found that 80% of the important archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria (most of which date back to the Second Temple period) were damaged, with half of them in immediate danger of total eradication.
Sites that have experienced extreme devastation
The worst devastation was at sites in Area B, where despite technical Israeli security control (alongside Palestinian civilian control), there is effectively no Israeli control, no law, and no enforcement.Among the prominent heritage sites in Area B that are subject to severe and continuous damage are Joshua’s Altar on Mount Ebal, the Hasmonean fortress at Tel Aroma, and large sections of ancient Samaria (Sebastia) – the capital of the biblical Kingdom of Israel.
Institutional PA efforts to destroy Jewish heritage sites (and Christian sites too, including many churches from the Byzantine period) are supported, alas, by an international network of foreign state entities that directly or indirectly fund destructive activities.
