How archaeology turns political in the West Bank

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In the Judean desert, a analyzable past is being unearthed into a analyzable present. This site, astatine Tala'at Ad-Dam, sits on an past pilgrimage way to Jerusalem, 1 Jesus' parents were said to person walked.

Back then, this onshore was called Judea, aft the radical who would go known arsenic the Jews. Over the centuries, it would beryllium conquered by empires of varying beliefs. It's 1 of astatine slightest 5,000 archaeological sites here, a spot astir commonly known arsenic the West Bank. Some telephone it by its past oregon Biblical sanction — Judea and Samaria. The U.N. says it's occupied Palestinian territory.

Eyal Freiman, lawman unit serviceman for archeology of Israel's Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria, knows good the complexity of performing excavations here. "I don't enactment by governmental views," helium said. "If we weren't excavating this site, it would astir apt beryllium half-buried."

Asked if his relation was inherently political, being an Israeli connected Palestinian land, Freiman replied, "I'm conscionable an worker of a civilian administration. My occupation is to protect, preserve, and marque approachable each the archaeological sites."

But for whom? That's the question Talya Ezrahi raises. "Archaeology has go a mode of proving that we were here," she said. "So, whenever we look successful the ground, we're ever hoping to find thing that has immoderate denotation of Jewish beingness successful the onshore of Israel" – to marque the assertion we were present first.

Ezrahi is with the left-wing Israeli archeology radical Emek Shaveh. She claims archaeology has been weaponized to marque definite lands off-bounds to Palestinians: "It's been weaponized successful the work of enhancing and entrenching settlements and claiming much and much lands that were erstwhile Palestinian lands," she said.

Take Nebi Samuel, wherever it's believed the prophet Samuel was buried a 1000 years earlier Christ. A Palestinian colony was dismantled to marque mode for what's go a tourer site.

Eid Barakat was forced to determination from present erstwhile his location was demolished. He's been successful impermanent lodging since 1971, due to the fact that helium claims helium cannot get a gathering permit. Israel is present allocating astir $100 cardinal successful portion to make archeological and tourism sites successful the West Bank.

Asked whether it was bully that the onshore wherever Barakat erstwhile lived has been excavated, Ezrahi replied, "First of all, it is simply a beauteous site. But astatine the aforesaid time, determination is simply a precise important section of the tract that is missing, and that is the communicative of the Palestinian colony that lived here."

Sebastia

We met Israeli archeologist Adi Shragai successful the West Bank municipality of Sebastia, what was erstwhile the superior metropolis of the Kingdom of Israel. "So galore parts of past were wholly erased conscionable due to the fact that idiosyncratic decided to travel and physique connected apical of it," she said.

Shragai says humanity benefits erstwhile these past sites are protected. She's portion of an Israeli archaeology radical called Preserving the Eternal, which works successful the West Bank. "For 100 years, determination hasn't been due excavations successful this site, [or] world research," she said.

But tin performing excavation beryllium wholly divorced from today's governmental realities? "The governmental world is that sites are being destroyed," Shragai said.

The radical identifies archeological sites they deem request preservation, including this theater, which is much than 2 1000 years old.

But to get here, the Israelis had to thrust off-road astir the Palestinian town, due to the fact that tensions are truthful high.

Asked if specified excavations by Israelis magnitude to a onshore drawback connected the West Bank, Shragai replied, "My main ngo is to person these sites safe, protected and preserved. If it were to beryllium done by the Palestinian Authority, fine. But unfortunately, they don't bash that."

Zaid Azhari says his household has lived successful Sebastia for astatine slightest 20 generations. He makes a surviving giving tours of these sites, including the theater. As a Palestinian, helium says he's not allowed adjacent them erstwhile the Israelis are moving the site.

"The Israelis are not allowing america to enactment wrong this site," helium said. "If you commencement moving here, you volition spot the drones supra you. The soldiers volition come. The settlers volition come."

In November, Israel issued a onshore expropriation bid to instrumentality power of much than 300 acres of Sebastia. Azhari says this would sever the municipality from their heritage, farmland, and a large portion of their economy. "It's conscionable astir controlling land, stealing land," helium said.

To Israelis who accidental this is simply astir archaeology and is not political, Azhari said, "This is wholly political. We support our civilization and our ruins since thousands of years."

Rafi Greenberg is simply a prof of archeology astatine Tel Aviv University, and is co-founder of the radical Emek Shaveh. "I thought that archeology was going to beryllium lone astir facts," helium said. "The finds themselves are not really successful the past, they're successful the present."

He remembers being a pupil archetypal studying artifacts: "They're connected our table, they're looking astatine us. We're looking astatine them. And those pieces of grounds don't adhd up to thing unless we marque them adhd up to something."

Archeology is storytelling, Greenberg says, which is exemplified astatine the City of David, the tract wherever Israeli archaeologists are convinced Israel's astir almighty king built his superior a 1000 years earlier Christ. Greenberg was excavating determination astir the aforesaid clip CBS' Bob Simon visited successful 1980. Then, Simon reported that the United Nations condemned Israeli archaeologists for digging successful what the U.N. called Occupied Territory.

Today, the City of David is simply a nationalist park, implicit with a zip-line.

"So, that became benignant of a blueprint," Greenberg said ... a blueprint which, helium argues, is partially a "settler project," and a roadmap for different archaeological sites.

In neighboring Silwan, dozens of Palestinian families person been displaced, oregon person eviction proceedings against them. (Israeli authorities accidental they lone demolish structures without due permits and aft each ineligible proceedings are exhausted.)

Greenberg said, "They're utilizing the antiquities and the power of antiquities to link antithetic points wrong that portion of Jerusalem, to forestall Palestinians from expanding their footprint. And their eventual purpose is to thrust them out."

City of David

We wanted to perceive what idiosyncratic astatine the apical of Israel's authorities thought astir these allegations, and met Israel's Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu astatine the City of David. "We are fundamentally stepping connected the communicative that the full Bible is based on," helium told us.

The minister, who is portion of a far-right governmental faction, took america down to the aged metropolis aqueducts, astatine 1 constituent stopping to propulsion what helium called a "magical' ringing retired of his overgarment pocket: "Why magical? Because it has been waiting successful the crushed for 2,000 years," helium explained.

It was recovered connected Mount Gerizim successful the West Bank. Engraved, successful Hebrew, is Judaism's holiest prayer, the shema. "If radical ask, is this onshore ours? Here is the simplest and astir moving proof," helium said.

Throughout the site, stories from the reign of King David are connected to the archaeology.

We asked, "What astir the communicative of the Palestinians, adjacent the Palestinians who erstwhile lived here?"

"So, according to history, determination was nary Palestinian people," the curate said. "We don't cognize who the Palestinian king was. It's a radical that was invented 60 years ago."

That made america deliberation of thing we'd heard backmost successful Sebastia, erstwhile Zaid Azhari took america to spot a plaque, which made nary notation that Sebastia had been the superior metropolis of the Kingdom of Israel.

We asked, "It seems similar connected some sides there's an erasure of history. Here you don't see a Jewish past present successful this town."

"Here we are talking astir a period," Azhari replied.

"You notation Herod, the Roman leader. You notation the Canaanites. But determination is missing the Israelites."

"To accidental this is simply a Jewish kingdom oregon a Jewish city, it's not truly that correct," Azhari said. "This is my heritage. This is not the Zionist past oregon culture, this is mine."

This is mine – that's what we kept proceeding connected some sides.

When helium asked Heritage Minister Eliyahu astir the Israeli radical Emek Shaveh's connection that Israeli power of archeological sites successful the West Bank is successful essence a onshore claim, helium responded, "Does Emek Shaveh hold that these humanities sites beryllium to the past of the Jewish people? If the reply is yes, past we indispensable sphere these sites. And if the reply is no, past fto them beryllium it belongs to the Palestinian people. For now, determination is nary proof."

To prof Rafi Greenberg, that cognition is "another mode of weaponizing. That is, you connect much value to definite benignant of heritage, and little value to different kinds of heritage."

When Israel was founded successful 1948, the archetypal premier curate Ben Gurion talked astir however important archeology was to the authorities of Israel itself. "Every federation needs a unifying myth, thing that volition bring everyone unneurotic to subordinate to 1 communicative that is their story," Greenberg said. He insists that contempt efforts to crook archaeology into a nationalist story, it's usually 1 of a shared past -- a past which was connected show backmost astatine that pilgrimage way excavation with Eyal Freiman.

"We person the Jewish culture, we person the Christian culture, we person the Muslim cultures," Freiman said. "It is each combined. Sites that started arsenic 1 and ended arsenic another. Sometimes it's not arsenic black-and-white arsenic you see."

Rather, these discoveries tin beryllium a dusty, sandy grey. They're portion of a continuum … tantalizing glimpses of different clip seen done the lens of today.

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