{"id":1968,"date":"2023-07-12T08:21:14","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T08:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/?p=1968"},"modified":"2023-07-12T08:24:18","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T08:24:18","slug":"mt-ebal-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/mt-ebal-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Settlers Backed by army and Civil Administration lead illegal excavation in Area B of the West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June under cover of the recent\u00a0round of violence, settlers accompanied by the army conducted an illegal excavation on Mount Ebal\/el Burnat (designated as area B) near the Palestinian town of a-Sira a-Shamaliya. Present at the site were also volunteers from the Associates for Biblical Research (ABR), an American Christian evangelical ministry. The excavation was greenlighted by the Civil Administration\u2019s Staff Officer for Archaeology (SOA), though it was conducted without an excavation license and involved the removal (perhaps with heavy machinery) of approximately 80 cubic meters of soil from the site and its transfer to the settlement of Shavei Shomron for future sifting (see yesterday’s article in Haaretz about it\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

It should be reiterated that according to Israeli domestic law (which does not apply in the West Bank),\u00a0 the Jordanian Antiquities Law (which governs area C), and the Palestinian Antiquities law (which applies to areas A and B), every excavation activity at an antiquities site requires a license by the relevant authority. Informing this regulation is the idea that the\u00a0authorities should be equipped with the legal mechanisms to supervise archaeological activities and ensure that these are conducted in accordance with professional standards and conventions used in scientific research, thereby\u00a0differentiating these acts from acts vandalism. Excavation licenses are registered under the name of the excavating archaeologists and are allotted a predetermined time frame.<\/p>\n

The Third Annex to Oslo Accords\u2019 Interim Agreement which was applied to the West Bank by proclamation by the Military Commander in 1995\u00a0addressed archaeology<\/a>\u00a0stipulating that in areas under Palestinian civil responsibility (Areas A and B), the authority for safeguarding antiquity sites would be transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA), while the SOA retained responsibility for sites in Area C.\u00a0Therefore the Palestinian Authority\u2019s Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage is exclusively responsible for issuing such a license in area B.<\/p>\n

A license was not issued for the excavation at Mount Ebal\/el Burnat and therefore could be considered\u00a0 \u2018antiquity theft\u2019.<\/p>\n

At Shavei Shomron, the Samaria Regional Council, the ICA and the SOA initiated a sifting project for the public. \u2018Guardians of Eternity\u2019, the settler organization, publicized the event with an ad saying “Let’s make history! A sifting project is underway for Joshua\u2019s\u00a0 altar on Mount Ebal. It’s not every day that one has opportunity to discover fascinating finds. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find an amulet!”<\/p>\n

The site of Mount Ebal\/el-Burnat\u00a0is situated north of Nablus at the top of a mountain peak between the village of a-Sira a-Shamaliya and the Balata refugee camp. It was studied by Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal in the 1980\u2019s who concluded that the structure at the site was an altar dated to the\u00a0Late Bronze\/Early Iron Age period and that it could be identified with the altar built by Joshua as described in the Book of Joshua 8: 30-35.\u00a0 A majority of archaeologists claim that the archaeological data does not support the theory that the site was an altar and certainly cannot substantiate the existence of biblical figures from this period.\u00a0 However, the settlers, keen on solidifying their control over the West Bank, have reiterated Zertal’s identification of the site with Joshua and refer to it as “Joshua’s Altar”.<\/p>\n

In March 2022<\/a>, Scott Stripling, the Director of Excavations for the Associated Biblical Research (ABR), an American Christian evangelical ministry dedicated to “demonstrating the historical reliability of the Bible through archaeological and biblical research\u201d as part of what they\u00a0describe<\/a>\u00a0as \u201cdays of intense spiritual battle\u201d against \u201cthe bizarre anti-biblical propaganda that is purveyed upon the public as gospel through television and print media\u201d, claimed in a press conference to have found a 3200 year-old “curse tablet” with proto-Hebrew writing at the site of Mount Ebal.\u00a0 He claimed it was the oldest Hebrew text found in the country and containing the name of God.<\/p>\n

Stripling and a team which included Israeli researchers, claim the epigraphic analysis and special scanning procedures date the find to the Late Bronze \u2013 Iron I Ages when Mount Ebal was a regional Israelite ritual site. Israeli Professor Gershon Galil claimed to have deciphered the script on the tablet and described his findings as a “death blow to all Bible deniers”. Conducting a press conference before revealing the findings in a peer reviewed paper does not constitute good academic practice. In May this year this group of researchers\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0an article<\/p>\n

about the \u201ctablet\u201d in “Heritage Science” journal, but few were convinced as it was lacking the basic academic criteria and was even accused of \u00a0data manipulation and deceitfulness.<\/p>\n

Emek Shaveh has gathered evidence which clearly suggests that the artifact was removed from the site in December 2019 in a similar excavation of soil that was later moved to Shavei Shomron settlement for sifting. This excavation then too was undertaken without license, possibly\u00a0in contravention of domestic and international law and in complete disregard for acceptable archaeological practices.<\/p>\n

Emek Shaveh’s\u00a0response<\/a>: The archaeological site at Mount Ebal is becoming a watershed in Israeli archaeology. The activity on the site has turned from a pirate operation led by a group of Messianic Jews and Christians into a state sponsored operation under the auspices of the Civil Administration led by Minister Bezalel Smotrich.<\/p>\n

This is yet another violation of the Oslo Accords and suspected violation of domestic and international law that is whitewashed by Israeli authorities and intended to serve as a method for advancing the annexation of the West Bank to Israel.<\/p>\n

In addition to the alleged violation of the law, the excavation constitutes an ethical failure by the entire archaeological community in Israel whose silence continues to grant legitimacy to such projects. A comprehensive and immediate investigation is required by all the relevant parties as well as independently by the Israeli Archaeological Association.<\/p>\n

Emek Shaveh published a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0in Hebrew about Israel’s actions at Mount Ebal last month. The English version will be made available soon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Israeli activity at the\u00a0site<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Israeli activity at the\u00a0site<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The sifting site in Shavei Shomron<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The sifting site in Shavei Shomron<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June under cover of the recent\u00a0round of violence, settlers accompanied by the army conducted an illegal excavation on Mount Ebal\/el Burnat (designated as area B) near the Palestinian town of a-Sira a-Shamaliya. Present at the site were also volunteers from the Associates for Biblical Research (ABR), an American Christian evangelical ministry. The excavation was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"class_list":["post-1968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-west-bank","tag-archaeological-excavations","tag-archaeology-staff-officer","tag-mt-ebal","tag-settlers","tag-the-civil-administration"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSettlers Backed by army and Civil Administration lead illegal excavation in Area B of the West Bank - Emek Shaveh<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/mt-ebal-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Settlers Backed by army and Civil Administration lead illegal excavation in Area B of the West Bank - Emek Shaveh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In June under cover of the recent\u00a0round of violence, settlers accompanied by the army conducted an illegal excavation on Mount Ebal\/el Burnat (designated as area B) near the Palestinian town of a-Sira a-Shamaliya. 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