{"id":2146,"date":"2026-06-04T16:08:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/?p=2146"},"modified":"2026-06-04T16:10:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:10:29","slug":"expropriations-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emekshaveh.org\/en\/expropriations-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Expropriations, budget allocations and PR campaigns mirror fast advance of heritage annexation bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the West Bank and Gaza Heritage Authority Bill advances rapidly toward the final stages of the legislative process, developments on the ground reflect the coalition\u2019s haste to change the reality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) under the guise of heritage protection.<\/p>\n

Download as a PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

In less than two weeks, the government announced NIS 250 million for the development of heritage sites in the West Bank; the Civil Administration announced the expropriation of Nabi Samuel\/Nebi Samwil from the Islamic Waqf; and Heritage Minister, Amihai Eliyahu, continued his public relations tour of sites across the West Bank, seeking to turn them into a chain of strongholds for an ultra-nationalist version of Jewish heritage.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0expropriation order for Nabi Samuel<\/a>\/Nebi Samwil<\/a>, made public last week, covers 101 dunams at the heart of the site. At its center stands a holy place for Muslims, Jews and Christians: a tomb complex and a large mosque. Today, most visitors to the site are\u00a0Jewish worshippers<\/a>\u00a0who come to the tomb they identify as the Tomb of the Prophet Samuel, located within the mosque. Archaeological remains at the site date from the Hellenistic period.<\/p>\n

The mosque, owned by the Waqf, remains central to the life of the Palestinian village of Nabi Samwil. In the 1970s, residents were evicted from their homes adjacent to the mosque and forced to relocate several hundred meters away. The\u00a0\u201cnew\u201d\u00a0village was never recognized by the Israeli authorities. The entire area, including the holy site, the village and large areas of privately owned Palestinian agricultural land, was later designated as an Israeli\u00a0national park (1995), and in recent years the government is promoting the annual celebration of the Prophet Samuel at\u00a0the site.<\/p>\n

As in the City of David\/Silwan, national park designations enable the authorities to prohibit Palestinian development, including construction, renovations and agricultural work. The Nabi Samuel national park covers approximately 3,500 dunams –\u00a0around ten times the size of the archaeological site itself. We know of no justification for this expansive designation, suggesting that the only objective is\u00a0to stifle Palestinian development. A precedent for the expropriation of a holy site from the Waqf can be found in the\u00a0September\u00a02025 decision<\/a>\u00a0to expropriate the courtyard area at the Tomb of the Patriarchs\/Ibrahimi Mosque.<\/p>\n

In 2021, following a ten-year process, the Civil Administration\u2019s Higher Planning Committee\u00a0approved a master plan<\/a>\u00a0for the development of Nabi Samuel. The plan includes designated visitor areas, a restaurant, a learning center for tour groups, a shop and a conference room. It also includes a new access route and shifts the entrance to the site from east to west.<\/p>\n

The plan ignores the Palestinian village whose residents continue to suffer from a severe lack of building permits after all proposed master plans for the village were rejected. The recent expropriation order also targets their agricultural lands. This follows the\u00a0November 2025<\/a>\u00a0expropriation order for the entire archaeological site of Sebastia and a large surrounding area (1800 dunams).<\/p>\n

On\u00a0Wednesday (May 20th, 2026), the government announced the allocation of NIS 250 million for the development of heritage sites in the West Bank. In a joint statement by the Prime Minister\u2019s Office and the Ministries of Finance, Tourism, Settlement and Heritage, the allocation was linked to the approaching sixtieth anniversary (next June) of \u201cthe liberation of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, the heart of our homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0official government decision (gov decision number 4141<\/a>) reveals that the decision adds 209 NIS million to\u00a0\u00a0a program previously announced in\u00a02023<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a02025<\/a>,\u00a0bringing the total investment\u00a0in West Bank antiquity sites\u00a0between 2023\u00a0and 2030 so far to NIS 402.25 million.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu continues his public relations tour of West Bank sites. Last week, his office, together with Staff Officer for Archaeology Benny<\/p>\n

Har-Even, produced a grandiose, celebrity-studded torch-lighting ceremony with multimedia displays.<\/p>\n

Another ceremony by the minister, held at the Hasmonean Palaces in Jericho in February, was posted a\u00a0day before<\/a>\u00a0settlers destroyed homes<\/a>\u00a0in the adjacent community of Duyuk al-Tahta, leaving approximately 100 people homeless. The demolition, carried out with heavy machinery, was allowed to proceed unhindered despite the presence of the army.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In Hebron, a visitors\u2019 center focusing on Chabad\u2019s activities in the city was inaugurated, giving government ministers yet another opportunity to\u00a0denounce UNESCO<\/a>. And\u00a0last week, Orit Strook and Amihai Eliyahu erected a sign on Mount Ebal, in Area B, and delivered speeches\u00a0to teenage\u00a0girls brought to the site.\u00a0Earlier last\u00a0week, MK Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionism party, chair of the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee, swam in\u00a0Solomon\u2019s Pools\/Burak Suleiman\u00a0in Area A<\/a><\/p>\n

Solomon\u2019s Pools\/Burak Suleiman\u00a0in Area A<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Emek Shaveh:<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0It appears that with the impending collapse of the government and the dissolution of the Knesset, lawmakers and administration officials are rushing through sectarian processes aimed at creating a messianic “victory image” for their voters, which is currently reflected in unprecedented levels of human rights violations throughout the occupied territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.<\/p>\n

These actions build on a series of earlier decisions concerning antiquities and heritage sites, whose cumulative effect has been to detach the field from its scientific foundations and transform it into a tool for advancing annexation, whether through massive state investment directed exclusively at the West Bank or through legislation transferring responsibility for antiquities there to an Israeli civilian authority.<\/p>\n

The pace and scope of the developments on the ground reflect the same logic driving the legislation: a view that the land\u2019s antiquities constitute an exclusive Israeli title deed to the territory and should therefore serve as a vehicle for consolidating Israeli control. Taken together, the changes on the ground and the advancement of the Heritage Authority Bill seek to make formal annexation little more than a bureaucratic formality. That this approach runs contrary to accepted legal, diplomatic, and academic norms appears to be of little concern to a government determined to advance its ultra-nationalist agenda at all costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the West Bank and Gaza Heritage Authority Bill advances rapidly toward the final stages of the legislative process, developments on the ground reflect the coalition\u2019s haste to change the reality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) under the guise of heritage protection. Download as a PDF In less than two weeks, the government announced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"class_list":["post-2146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-west-bank","tag-archaeology-staff-officer","tag-heritage-authority"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExpropriations, budget allocations and PR campaigns mirror fast advance of heritage annexation bill - 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\/expropriations-budget\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Expropriations, budget allocations and PR campaigns mirror fast advance of heritage annexation bill - Emek Shaveh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the West Bank and Gaza Heritage Authority Bill advances rapidly toward the final stages of the legislative process, developments on the ground reflect the coalition\u2019s haste to change the reality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) under the guise of heritage protection. 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