Use of antiquity sites in efforts to advance annexation in the West Bank continues despite the war

January 10, 2024

General introduction
While local and international attention is justifiably focused on the destruction and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, or on settler violence in the West Bank, processes tantamount to the weaponization of heritage in the service of settlement expansion in the Occupied Territories continue unhindered. The following is a summary of the main developments in the field of heritage in the West Bank over the past two months. We list 4 major developments:

1. A new illegal outpost in the World Heritage Site of Battir
2. New conservation project – Khirbet Eqed
3. Military activity in Bani Na’im
4. Governmental budget allocations for heritage in the oPt

Battir
On December 24th, an illegal settlers outpost was established on the slopes of the village of Battir. As reported by Peace Now, an outpost had been established on the site twice before but subsequently dismantled. At the time of writing the outpost currently remains in place (situated in area C) and a bulldozer has been recorded working in the area.

Battir is a village southwest of Jerusalem, six kilometers west of Bethlehem. Its ancient agricultural terraces, some of them still in use, bear witness to thousands of years of human activity centered around the abundant springs across the slopes of the Refaim valley area.

The area surrounding Battir and the nearby village of Wallaja is rich in archaeological remains, particularly in the vicinity of the springs and along the ancient roads winding through the valley and its slopes. Considered a unique and well preserved example of terraced farming, Battir’s terraces have been inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in Palestine under the heading: Land of Olives and Vines, Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir, in 2014.

Brief History

The area has not been comprehensively excavated, but based on the several excavations that have been carried out, it has been shown that the slopes of Battir were first settled in the Chalcolithic period, about 4,000 BCE. Numerous finds from later periods include remains of settlements from the Middle Bronze Age II (the 18th-17th century BCE), a village from the 8th-7th century BCE, and burial structures from the 2nd Temple Period (1st century BCE to 1st century CE). The valley had been settled extensively in the late Roman Period (2nd and 3rd century CE), and in the Byzantine Period up to the Early Islamic Period (the 7th and 8th century CE). The Palestinian villages in the area, including those destroyed in 1948, date back hundreds of years, representing a continuity of human activity from earlier periods.

The area is not associated with biblical events or Jewish history. The exception is the site of Khirbet al-Yahud and Ein el-Haniya. The better-known Khirbet al-Yahud, located in the village of Battir, has often been identified with the historical settlement of Betar, known from the Bar Kochba revolt where the Jewish rebels suffered a crushing defeat by the Romans during the 2nd century CE. However, no remains attesting to the Bar Kochba revolt were found at the site.

In 2014, UNESCO declared Battir a World Heritage Site and a World Heritage Site in Danger in a rapid procedure designed to bestow protection to the area which was threatened by Israel’s plan to build a section of the separation wall through the terraced landscape. Following the inscription, In early 2015, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled to prevent the construction of the separation wall through Battir’s terraces.

Among the factors contributing to the inscription, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee cited “the dry-stone architecture represents an “outstanding example of a landscape that illustrates the development of human settlements near water sources and the adaptation of the land for agriculture […] The agricultural practices that were used to create this living landscape embody one of the oldest farming methods known to humankind and are an important source of livelihood for local communities.“

The center of the ancient village has been renovated and restored with the support of European funding. Currently a UNESCO-led project for rehabilitating the agro-cultural landscape of Battir and supporting sustainable tourism is underway.

The new outpost established last week is situated half a kilometer from the village of Battir in the core zone of the World Heritage Site. The announcement of plans to expand the Har Gilo settlement in 2022 also remains a threat to the integrity of the World Heritage site.

Emek Shaveh Response:
The establishment of illegal outposts is a violation of both domestic and international law. The outpost must be immediately dismantled. On a separate note, one of the significant threats to heritage sites is accelerated development, particularly when it is undertaken illegally and without oversight. The village of Battir and its slopes is a unique World Heritage Site. Its singularity is the reason for its inclusion in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites and was also the reason the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled to disallow construction of the separation barrier within its boundaries.

We call on the State of Israel to dismantle the outpost immediately, conduct a full and transparent investigation into the illegal activity and press charges against the offenders.

New conservation project – Khirbet Eqed
On December 31st, a budget of 12.25 million NIS was approved by the Finance Committee

for the preservation and development of a site called Khirbet el Eqed (or “Aqed”). The documents presented to the committee suggested that the project was kept under secrecy since December 2022 when the site was selected for conservation by the Ministry of Heritage’s steering committee. Emek Shaveh could not locate any public document detailing plans for the site.

The site is located just beyond the green line in an area which until 1967 was home to 3 Palestinian villages: Imwas (number 3 in the map), Yalo (number 2 in the map) and Beit Nuba (number 1 in the map), all known as the Villages of el-Latrun.

During the 1967 war, the villagers were expelled, and by the end of the fighting, the IDF demolished most of the buildings in the villages. By the end of 1967, the whole area was declared as a “close military area”. However, in 1969, the settlement of Mavo Horon was established on the remains of the village of Beit Nuba. Other parts of the area were given by the Israeli government to Jewish towns for agricultural use (more here).

In 1973 the State of Israel transferred some 3000 acres to the JNF, and with funding from Canadian philanthropists, established the Canada Park, later changed to the Ayalon-Canada Park (but mostly known as the Ayalon Park). Within the boundaries of the park there are a few antiquity sites representing many layers of human activity from the Bronze Age to the present day. Khirbet Eqed is one of the sites (marked in red on the map).

Khirbet Eqed and its environs has been excavated multiple times by Israeli archaeologists since 1976, mainly by the Civil Administration’s Staff Office for Archaeology (SOA) and Tel Aviv University. Since the construction of the separation wall east of Mavo Horon in the early 2000s, this area had been de-facto annexed both physically and, with the help of the park, also conceptually.

More information about the area can be found in Kerem Navot’s Report, Zochrot report (English), Haoketz (Hebrew)

Emek Shaveh’s Response:
The Ayalon-Canada Park and the investment in Khirbet Eqed is an example of a site where the process of annexation has been completed. What began with the expulsion of Palestinian communities in 1967 and was followed by the establishment of a settlement segued into the creation of a park which has been cut off from the West Bank. The latest plan takes this process to its logical conclusion with the development of the archaeological site and tourist attractions, all in service of erasing the green line. Investment in Khirbet Eqed has the same purpose of entrenching Israeli control and normalizing tourism on Palestinian land like at multiple other sites throughout the West Bank.

Military Activity in Bani Nai’m
During the past week, we have received reports of increased military activity in the village of Bani Nai’m in the southern West Bank, 8 km. east of Hebron.

The village, its core defined as area A, is home to two heritage sites associated with the tomb of Lot, the biblical figure from the book of Genesis. According to tradition, Lot lived in Beni Na’im before moving to Sodom. One of the structures is a mosque situated in the heart of the village, called the Mosque of Lot. It was built on top of the remains of a church, and an inscription from 1034 A.D dedicated the place as a mosque associated with Lot. The second site in the village center is a small Maqam, or tomb, also associated with Nabi (Prophet) Lot. The tomb and mosque combined are a fortified structure serving as an observation point and surrounded by a wall.

Approximately 1 km south of the center of Bani Na’im is a separate site, known as Maqam an-Nabi Yaqin (‘Shrine of the Truthful Prophet’). Local legend claims Abraham the Patriarch prayed at the site and that imprints of his feet in a rock there are visible. According to Muslim and Christian tradition, Bani Na’im is the place where Abraham saw the smoke of Sodom and Gomorrah “rising as the smoke of a furnace”. The Maqam and its surrounding wall, it is suggested, was built by the Fatimid rulers (9-11 centuries AD) as a means for maintaining a hold of the area.

The Maqam is situated just outside the declared archaeological area (polygon) called Khirbet Yaqin or Khirbet Dar. The site was excavated by the SOA at the Civil Administration in 1993.

In 2019, the self-appointed settlers archaeology watchdog Guardians of Eternity included the site of an-Nabi Yaqin in the list of sites which they are lobbying to have excavated and where they hope to conduct conservation work, quoting the need to safeguard the site from antiquity theft. Evidence published by Breaking the Silence also attest to the interest of settlers in the Mosque of Lot. In one of the testimonies a former soldier talks about enabling visits to the site by a “scholar specializing in the history of Judea and Samaria”:

“One time it was a mosque in a town called Bani Na’im, outside Hebron […] We arrived, three jeeps, driving to the mosque in Bani Na’im to visit, research. We didn’t grasp the significance of what we were doing…we went with him, he went in, at first people there were confused, they see the army and stuff. They let us in. […] He [the researcher] was measuring, looking, photographing, the imam arrived and then the mess started […] A few months later he sent his research, and it was entirely based on showing Jewish presence in Bani Na’im.”

The Mosque of Lot, the Makam of Nabi Lot, the Makam of an-Nabi Yaqin and the site of Khirbet Yaqin are all part of the village of Bani Nai’m’s heritage.  Israeli activity at these sites is a manifestation of politically motivated attempts to take control over heritage sites. Other better known antiquity sites in the greater Hebron area have been highly politicized by the settlers. Among these are Susya, Tuwani and the old city of Hebron. In recent years growing interest in biblical and Second Temple period sites in the West Bank have resulted in the current development of, or future plans for the development of, sites such as Tel Shiloh, Mt. Ebal, Sebastia and more. The unprecedented allocations and plans to invest in historic sites in the West Bank show that for this government, heritage development in the West Bank is a very high priority.

Emek Shaveh’s response:
The south Hebron area has seen a significant increase in settler violence over the past few years. The High Court ruled in 2022 to allow for the expulsion of eight villages from an area designated by the army as a firing zone. The recent violence against these communities is part of the drive to clear tracts of area C. The takeover of antiquity sites and developing them into biblically themed tourist attractions compliment these efforts. Like Mt.Ebal, Bani Na’im reflects settlers’ intentions to drive a stake not only in sites in area C but also at sites in area B, or those like Sebastia which straddle the boundary between B and C. All these developments result in a de-facto annulment of the geopolitical boundaries established by the Oslo Accords and serve a larger plan of annexing the West Bank.

Governmental Budget Allocations for Heritage in the oPt
During November’s discussions regarding the adaptation of the 2023 budget, the government approved the allocation of 72 millions NIS (gov decision 1096) for the budgetary program “Jerusalem and Heritage” (number: 830304). The program is a component in a larger budget of a total of 3 billion NIS earmarked for general use called “miscellaneous development expenses” (budget section number 83), used for the implementation of coalition agreements and governmental priorities.

The approval of 72 million NIS, is allocated for the “advancement of initiatives in the field of national and local heritage and the inculcation of Jewish heritage”. The approved budget was distributed as follows:

1. 16 million NIS for implementation of  decision 786named: “Salvage, Preserve, Develop and Prevent Antiquity Theft at Heritage Sites in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley”. Emek Shaveh has previously reported on this plan dedicated to the entrenchment of Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank by using heritage sites as a means for promoting what we call “occupation tourism”. This allocation was finalized on December 28 in gov. decision 1190 and approved by the Finance Committee (chaired by Moshe Gafni) with an additional 1.5 million NIS to a sum of 17.5 million NIS (16 from the ministry of Heritage and 1.5 from the ministry of Foreign Affairs). All to be transferred to the Staff Officer for Archaeology (or SOA, the ICA sub-unit for archaeology).
2. 33 million NIS for implementation of  decision 543named: “Strengthening and Branding of Jerusalem’s Historical Basin”. Decision 543 is the 4th five-year plan (2023-2027) for this purpose. The first plan was initiated in 2005 by the Sharon administration. The implementation of the most recent plan will bring the total investment in the Historic Basin in the past 18 years to 1.87 billion NIS. However, following the recommendation of the the budgets department in the Ministry of Finance this allocation was reduced to 16 million NIS (approved by the Finance Committee on December 31st). This budget will be transferred to the Ministry of Heritage.
3. 16 million NIS for implementation of  decision 548for the Shalem Plan C. The Shalem Plan is focused on the excavation, preservation and development of archaeology in the Historic Basin mainly in the archaeological park of the City of David. The most recent phase of the “Shalem Plan”, declared in May 2023, allocated 41 million NIS (2023-2034) and will complete a total investment in the Shalem Plan of 104 million NIS. This budget will be transferred to the Israel Antiquities Authority. More information about: Shalem A and Shalem B.
4. 5 million NIS for implementation of  decision 541for expansion of the 5 years plan (2022-2026) for the “upgrade and increase of visitors to the Western Wall Plaza”. This plan, which originally allocated 109.75 million NIS (2022-2026) for this purpose, was boosted in may 2023 by 58.7 million NIS. The plan follows a previous plan and will eventually bring the total investment in this project to 344 million NIS (between 2016 and 2026). This most recent allocation will be transferred to the Prime Minister’s office and later to The Western Wall Heritage Foundation (a governmental non-profit which manages the Western Wall plaza and adjacent facilities).
5. 2 million NIS for implementation of  decision 545, which is dedicated to the foundation of an educational, cultural and touristic initiative called “Am Olam” (A world nation). This project was described as an initiative for the “commitment to a joint Jewish calling” and encouraging visitors to engage in “social contribution in the name of Jewish tradition and heritage”.

An additional budget of 2.5 million NIS was approved on December 31st by the Finance committee for the implementation of the Sebastia plan (gov decision 491) by the Ministry for Environmental Protection (Idit Silman). In May 2023, the government had approved a 3-year-plan (2023-2025) aimed at turning the site into a tourist stronghold with a budget of 32 million NIS.

Note – Emek Shaveh has not found documentation for the remainder of the budget approved for heritage related plans (gov’t decisions 491,541,548,543,786) mentioned above. Work on the 2024 budget is currently underway and is expected to be made public in February. It is likely that plans in the area of heritage development will also be updated.

Emek Shaveh’s response:
Instead of using the opportunity to amend the budget in light of the mounting challenges resulting from the Hamas attack and the war in Gaza, the government continues to invest vast resources in heritage sites with the sole aim of occupation and annexation. In so doing, the government undermines heritage in two ways: 1. Weaponizing heritage sites against Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 2. By prioritizing only sites associated with Jewish heritage, it is condemning thousands of sites associated with other historical periods to neglect and destruction.

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