THE proposed extension of the jurisdiction of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) into the West Bank “pushes annexation under the guise of archaeology and antiquities”, a Palestinian human-rights campaigner has warned. Her view is supported by objections from Israeli archaeological organisations themselves.
Currently, antiquities in the West Bank are the responsibility of the Israeli Civil Administration or the Palestinian Authority, depending on the area. Under a proposed amendment to the IAA law, backed by the Israeli government and likely to come before the Knesset next month, they would come within the IAA’s remit.
The amendment refers to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria”. An explanatory note quotes Simon Maccabeus, a second-century Jewish leader: “It is not a foreign land that we have taken, nor have we set our rule over the property of strangers. This is the inheritance of our Forefathers, which at one time was illicitly conquered, and we, when the opportunity arose, recovered the inheritance of our Fathers.
“There is no dispute that these areas are rich in Jewish history, and thus these findings have no historical or other affiliation with the Palestinian Authority.”
It argues that the Civil Administration “lacks the knowledge and means to properly handle the scope of archaeological findings in these areas, and as a result, the condition of antiquities in Judea and Samaria today is dire. Entire sites are damaged by antiquities theft for economic or nationalistic purposes, which is, of course, a cultural crime that Israel must not ignore.”
The proposed change is opposed by the the Israeli Archaeological Association, the Archaeological Council of Israel, and the IAA itself. The Association has described it as a “blatant attempt to exploit archaeology to promote a certain political agenda”, and has called on all Knesset members to stop the legislation. “According to international law, the territories of Judea and Samaria are occupied areas; therefore, direct enforcement of Israeli law by an Israeli government body in these areas, namely the Antiquities Authority, would be interpreted as a violation of international law.”
Last week, the founder and director of the Balasan Initiative for Human Rights, Dalia Qumsieh, said that the amendment “basically uses archaeology as a tool to advance the annexation of occupied territories in the West Bank, contrary to international law and even international conventions that Israel is itself signatory to”. She drew attention to the principles of shared responsibility in the field of antiquities under the Oslo Accords and international heritage conventions.
“It also excludes any historic and religious rights and narratives for Palestinians on their own lands, and claims an exclusive Jewish narrative,” she said. “In short, it pushes annexation under the guise of archaeology and antiquities.”
On the Israeli Archaeological Association website, the archaeologist Ianir Milevski writes of the amendment: “Its clear intention is to take advantage of the war in Gaza, to advance political agendas in the Palestinian territories, including the violation of the current Israeli Law of Antiquities and the international law pertaining to illegal excavations in the West Bank.”
It would “undoubtedly cause sharp reactions”, internationally, “harming the already weak international cooperation that exists in the fields of archaeology and other human sciences”, he warns. “This is the time also to ask for archaeology to have an appropriate budget from the state, for teaching, excavation, survey, research, and preservation of heritage, without any political interference.”
A briefing published earlier this year by Emek Shaveh, an Israeli NGO that works “to prevent the politicisation of archaeology in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, says that the amendment is “derived from an ethnocentric and nationalist religious ideology of divine rights, is dangerous and damaging for the State of Israel, undermining any horizon for a political solution to the conflict and devastating to its foreign relations”.
The poor condition of antiquities in the West Bank “primarily stems from their existence in a conflict-ridden occupied territory, and their exploitation by right-wing political elements to turn them into a political weapon aimed at justifying Jewish presence and cleansing the area of Palestinian communities”, the briefing argues.
In a piece for the newspaper Haaretz, an Israeli journalist warned of settlers’ damaging archaeological sites, with reference to the new Nahal Heletz settlement located “right in the heart of a UNESCO world heritage site near Bethlehem”. Mount Ebal, said by some to the be the site of Joshua’s altar, was a “flagship site” for those pushing for the amendment, he wrote.
Ms Qumsieh, who met the Archbishop of Canterbury last month (News, 13 September), called on the international community to “hold Israel accountable for its decades-long, systematic grave breaches and violations of international law in Palestine, that only seem to deteriorate as a result of this absolute lack of accountability”.
The Israeli government was approached for comment.