
Jeddah (UNA) - The Media Observatory of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Israeli Crimes against Palestinians has noted an increase in settler incursions into archaeological sites in a number of areas in the West Bank, especially in the last week of December 2024, where settlers performed their Talmudic rituals coinciding with what is known as the “Festival of Lights” in archaeological sites in the Jericho and Jordan Valley Governorate, which ranks second among the Palestinian governorates subject to Israeli control and seizure of its lands after occupied Jerusalem.
On December 26, 2024, settlers entered the Herod’s Palace area in Jericho and set fire to the archaeological area near the palace, under the pretext of performing “Talmudic” rituals. On the 27th of the same month, other settlers entered the Tel Ma’in archaeological area east of the town of Yatta in Hebron, and set up a “candelabra” and performed their “Talmudic” rituals, while others set up a “Hanukkah candle” or “candelabrum” on the Diokos (Al-Hawtah) archaeological fortress at the top of Mount Qarantul in Jericho. On August 14, 2024, the occupation authorities intensified their raids on the Al-Masoudiya archaeological area near the city of Nablus.
Recently, on January 10, 2025, the Israeli occupation forces prevented Palestinian farmers from plowing their lands in the Umm al-Quba plain in the northern Jordan Valley, as part of the occupation’s plans to control those areas and impose an economic siege on the Palestinians in those areas.
In a report by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, which was specifically provided to the organization’s media observatory on Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, Israel, the occupying power, has begun to use antiquities in the Palestinian territories to claim ownership of the land in the West Bank and to complete the construction of its settlements there, while its projects and plans to control antiquities in the West Bank can be added to its efforts to annex the West Bank.
According to the ministry’s report, the Israeli quest to control Palestinian antiquities began after 1967, and Israeli excavations focused on the Abu al-Alaiq hills in Jericho, the “Herod’s Winter Palaces” and Tel al-Furaidis east of Bethlehem, Khirbet Qumran, Khan al-Ahmar and Mount Gerizim in Nablus.
In a legislative proposal by Likud Knesset member Amit Halevi, the latter called for amendments to the Israel Antiquities Authority Law under the title “Amendment to the Israel Antiquities Authority in Judea and Samaria 2023,” and proposed applying Israeli antiquities laws to the West Bank so that they become the responsibility of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
On July 7, 2024, an Israeli ministerial committee approved Halevi’s proposals, and the decision was later transformed into a military order to seize Palestinian archaeological sites in the town of Sebastia. The decision came under the pretext that “the alleged Jewish antiquities in the West Bank are being vandalized by Palestinians.”
On July 15, 2023, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates warned of an Israeli plan to control Palestinian archaeological sites, and called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to assume its responsibilities towards this. Palestinian archaeological sites are usually seized by Zionist settlement organizations, which consequently prevent Palestinians from entering those sites.
It is worth noting that Jericho, the southern Jordan Valley, eastern Tubas in the northern Jordan Valley, and the Dead Sea area are among the historical areas targeted by Israel.
Israeli control over archaeological areas has extended to religious demands, as the Israeli occupation seeks to include religious shrines on Palestinian lands in the Jewish heritage, while they are included under the Israeli nature protection authority under the pretext of protecting nature, or under the pretext of placing military watchtowers, as was done in the case of the shrine of the Prophet Yaqeen in Bani Naim.
On the other hand, the settlement project in Jericho is different from other settlement projects in the rest of the Palestinian territories because of its economic, agricultural and touristic importance on the one hand, and because it is relatively far from the separation wall and its strategic location on the border with Jordan on the other hand, which makes it a strategic security target such that it is made an eastern buffer zone. Israel also views the historical dimension of Jericho as important, which explains its frantic pursuit to control the archaeological areas there.
Observers believe that Israel is targeting Jericho because of the low Palestinian population density in the city, which makes it an easy target for Israel, while 53 Palestinians live in 12 communities in different areas of Jericho. Meanwhile, the Palestinian governorate has 16 major Israeli settlements and five settlement outposts inhabited by 8500 settlers.
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