Israel plans to seize parts of a major West Bank historic site, according to a government document, while settlers put up a new outpost overnight, even as the country faces pressure to crack down on settler violence in the Palestinian territory.
Israel plans to seize parts of a major West Bank historic site, according to a government document, while settlers put up a new outpost overnight, even as the country faces pressure to crack down on settler violence in the Palestinian territory.
Israel's Civil Administration announced its intention to expropriate large swaths of Sebastia, a major archaeological site in the occupied Palestinian territory, in the document obtained by The Associated Press on Nov. 20.
Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said the site is around 1,800 dunams (450 acres) — Israel's largest seizure of archeologically important land.
The Israeli order released Nov. 12 lists parcels of land it intends to seize in the Sebastia area.
Peace Now said that the popular archeological site, where thousands of olive trees grow, belongs to the Palestinians.
The capital of the ancient Israelite kingdom Samaria is thought to be beneath the ruins of Sebastia. Christians and Muslims believe it's where John the Baptist was buried.
The site in Sebastia dates back to the Bronze Age, around 3200 BCE.
Since 2012, the site has been on UNESCO’s tentative list of heritage sites, after the Palestinian Authority submitted an application to include Sebastia on its list of Palestinian heritage sites.
The entry described the site as “the capital of the northern kingdom during the Iron Age II in Palestine and a major urban center during the Hellenistic and Roman periods,” without mentioning any Jewish connection.
Israel announced plans to develop the site into a tourist attraction in 2023. Excavations have already begun and the government has allocated more than 30 million shekels ($9.24 million) to develop the site, according to Peace Now and another rights group.
The order gives Palestinians 14 days to object to the declaration.
The largest parcel of historical land previously seized by Israel was 286 dunams (70 acres) in Susya, a village in the south of the West Bank, Peace Now said.
Palestinians local authorities said the move is part of a wider policy to “Judaize” Palestinian heritage and justify land grabs.
Sebastia’s mayor, Muhammad Azem, told Middle East Eye that Israel aims to connect the archaeological site to the nearby Shavei Shomron settlement, built on land belonging to several Palestinian towns.
The move came as Israeli settlers celebrated the creation of a new, unauthorized settlement near Bethlehem.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu met with top security officials to assess a rising tide of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, as he faces increasing U.S. pressure to halt the flare-up that could undermine Washington's peace plan for Gaza.
Washington is hoping Israel can contain the rising settler violence to avoid jeopardizing the U.N. Security Council-approved U.S. plan for Gaza, which authorizes an international force to provide security and envisions a possible path to an independent Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has called the perpetrators “a handful of extremists” and urged law enforcement to pursue them for “the attempt to take the law into their own hands.” But rights groups and Palestinians say the problem is far greater than a few bad apples and attacks have become a daily phenomenon across the territory.
