{"id":2127,"date":"2025-10-29T09:33:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/?p=2127"},"modified":"2026-02-17T09:37:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:37:44","slug":"additional-40-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/additional-40-million\/","title":{"rendered":"Government approves additional 40 million NIS\u00a0for ancient sites in the West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Israeli\u00a0government decided on Sunday, October 26<sup>th<\/sup>, to allocate a further 40 million NIS for archaeological sites in the West Bank for 2025-2026.\u00a0The new funds come from\u00a0budget cuts across government ministries, including defence, transport, energy, justice, and education.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/40-million-more-for-West-Bank-sites.pdf\">Download as a PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This decision builds on a\u00a0120 million NIS \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/government-plan-west-bank\/\">emergency plan<\/a>\u201d\u00a0approved in\u00a0July 2023\u00a0for the \u201csalvage, preservation, development, and prevention of antiquities theft\u201d at heritage sites in &#8220;Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley&#8221;. That earlier plan followed a\u00a032 million NIS allocation\u00a0for the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/government-approves-8-8m-budget-to-restore-ancient-israels-capital-in-west-bank\/\">development of\u00a0Sebastia<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/government-approves-8-8m-budget-to-restore-ancient-israels-capital-in-west-bank\/\">,<\/a>\u00a0a major archaeological mound near Nablus. The Sebastia plan effectively aims\u00a0to\u00a0sever the site from the adjacent Palestinian town\u00a0and\u00a0turn it into a flagship Israeli tourism destination\u00a0in the northern West Bank. Following the decision, the military also issued a seizure order for an area at\u00a0the summit of Sebastia.\u00a0Last May, our objection to the seizure order was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/sebastia-and-jerudalelm-day\/\">rejected<\/a>\u00a0and at the same time the Civil Administration\u2019s Staff Officer for Archaeology (SOA) commenced\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/sebastia-plan-starts\/\">excavations<\/a>\u00a0at the site.<\/p>\n<p>The 2023 allocations had come on the heels of\u00a0\u00a0a\u00a0five-year campaign\u00a0by\u00a0settler regional councils, right-wing\u00a0NGOs, such as Guardians of Eternity, and\u00a0Knesset members\u00a0who accused the Palestinian Authority of deliberately destroying what they termed \u201cJewish antiquities\u201d in Areas B and C. The campaign called for\u00a0full Israeli control over archaeological sites in the West Bank (Area C but also B) and resulted in\u00a0additional staff positions\u00a0for the\u00a0SOA\u00a0and as well as surveillance technology.<\/p>\n<p>The new budget brings the total allocation for archaeological activities in the West Bank by this government alone to 192 million NIS for 2023-2026.\u00a0The explanatory notes to the decision state that since the July 2023 decision ,\u201dlarge parts of the programme outlined in the decision have not yet been implemented, partly due to the challenges posed by the \u2018Iron Swords\u2019 war and other systemic constraints&#8230;The budget increase is required in order to prevent further damage to archaeological sites and to ensure the preservation and development of these sites,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>The additional allocation\u00a0is the latest in a series of steps taken since the reconfiguration\u00a0of the Ministry of Heritage under Jewish Power Minister Amichai Eliyahu in 2023 to substantially increase Israeli control over ancient sites in oPt and develop them as settler-run tourist destinations. One of the central developments is the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/new-body-wbank-archaeology\/\">bill to extend Israel\u2019s Antiquity Authority Law into the West Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Presently, antiquities in Area C of\u00a0the West Bank are officially managed by the\u00a0SOA, operating under the Jordanian Antiquities Law of 1966. The proposed legislation would transfer authority from the SOA to a\u00a0civilian\u00a0body within the Ministry of Heritage, effectively\u00a0replacing Jordanian law with Israeli law. If enacted, the law would constitute a\u00a0de jure annexation of antiquities sites\u00a0in the West Bank. The bill is still under discussion in Knesset committees following\u00a0strong opposition from the Israeli archaeological community.<\/p>\n<p>In another recent development,\u00a0in\u00a0September, we reported on an\u00a0unprecedented wave of new archaeological site declarations &#8211;\u00a060 in the northern West Bank alone\u00a0(in Area C and even B). These designations form part of a wider trend that includes\u00a0new settlement authorisations,\u00a0declarations of state land,\u00a0construction permits, and\u00a0approval of new settler outposts, all facilitated by the creation of the\u00a0Settlement Administration\u00a0within the\u00a0Ministry of Defence, under\u00a0Minister Bezalel Smotrich, in 2023.<\/p>\n<p><u>Emek Shaveh\u2019s Response:<\/u><br \/>\nThe\u00a0government decision to redirect funds from other offices to\u00a0sites in the West Bank\u00a0reflects\u00a0the ministers&#8217;\u00a0true priorities. At a time when\u00a0health, welfare, and education systems have been\u00a0severely\u00a0impacted by\u00a0two years of war and soaring defence spending, the government is\u00a0diverting critical resources\u00a0to advance\u00a0the settlers\u2019 long-standing agenda: expanding control over territory through archaeology.<\/p>\n<p>By declaring more areas as\u00a0archaeological sites \u201coff limits\u201d to Palestinians\u00a0and developing them as\u00a0tourist attractions to draw\u00a0mainstream Israeli visitors\u00a0into the settlements, the government is\u00a0instrumentalising antiquities\u00a0both as a\u00a0bureaucratic tool for displacement and annexation, and as a\u00a0means of shaping a biblical-nationalist narrative\u00a0that excludes other histories and denies Palestinian connection\u00a0to the land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Israeli\u00a0government decided on Sunday, October 26th, to allocate a further 40 million NIS for archaeological sites in the West Bank for 2025-2026.\u00a0The new funds come from\u00a0budget cuts across government ministries, including defence, transport, energy, justice, and education. Download as a PDF This decision builds on a\u00a0120 million NIS \u201cemergency plan\u201d\u00a0approved in\u00a0July 2023\u00a0for the \u201csalvage, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10],"class_list":["post-2127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","category-west-bank","tag-archaeological-excavations","tag-archaeology-staff-officer","tag-heritage-ministry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Government approves additional 40 million NIS\u00a0for ancient sites in 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\/additional-40-million\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government approves additional 40 million NIS\u00a0for ancient sites in the West Bank - Emek Shaveh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Israeli\u00a0government decided on Sunday, October 26th, to allocate a further 40 million NIS for archaeological sites in the West Bank for 2025-2026.\u00a0The new funds come from\u00a0budget cuts across government ministries, including defence, transport, energy, justice, and education. Download as a PDF This decision builds on a\u00a0120 million NIS \u201cemergency plan\u201d\u00a0approved in\u00a0July 2023\u00a0for the \u201csalvage, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/additional-40-million\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Emek Shaveh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-29T09:33:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T09:37:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1430\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"805\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"manager\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"manager\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/additional-40-million\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/additional-40-million\/\",\"name\":\"Government approves additional 40 million NIS\u00a0for ancient sites in the West Bank - 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