Israel accused of weaponising archaeology at ancient West Bank sites
Palestinian landowners in the West Bank are facing land expropriation by Israeli authorities for the development of a national park at the ancient site of Sebastia. Residents and landowners argue that the move is a form of cultural weaponization that displaces local communities and severs their connection to ancestral land.
Why it matters
The case highlights the ongoing tensions regarding land rights, cultural heritage preservation, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the occupied West Bank.
Image source, Reuters By Sebastian Usher , Global affairs correspondent , Reporting from Sebastia, occupied West Bank and Callum Tulley , Reporting from Sebastia, occupied West Bank Published 17 minutes ago Up in the hills above the Roman columns of the ancient site of Sebastia, in the occupied West Bank, are olive fields that have been cultivated for generations by Palestinian families.
One of the landowners, Abu Mudif, says he has received notification that his land is part of a tranche of about 450 acres that the Israeli authorities are taking possession of in order, they say, to protect and develop the site for a major new national park.
Typically, Palestinian landowners receive little or no payment for such land expropriation. And even when it is offered, most refuse it as they see accepting it as giving recognition and legitimacy to the loss of what they see as their patrimony.
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