”ARABS HAVE DESTROYED 80% OF ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA’

by Yoni Kempinski, October 8, 2021

Arabs in Judea and Samaria have undertaken systematic destruction of 3,000 years of Jewish history in Judea and Samaria, NGO reports.

 

Adi Shragai
 

Jewish heritage sites in Judea and Samaria are being systematically vandalized and destroyed by local Arabs, according to a watchdog group which monitors archeological sites in the area.

Adi Shragai, operations organizer for the Shomrim Al HaNetzach organization, said in an interview with Arutz Sheva that the phenomenon of Arab vandals targeting archeological sites in Judea and Samaria has grown worse in recent years.

“Unfortunately, in the last few years we’ve received more and more reports from hikers and people in the field regarding the destruction of antiquities in Judea and Samaria, with no law enforcement. We understood immediately that something significant – and terrible – is happening here.”

The targeted destruction of archeological sites in Judea and Samaria, Shragai said, is carried out in part by Arab antiquities thieves, but also as part of illegal Arab land grabs, with unauthorized construction targeting historical sites. Arab farmers also often target archeological sites for destruction, preparing the land for agricultural work.

Unlike archeological sites inside the pre-1967 Green Line, which fall under the direct protection of the Israel Antiquities Authority, sites in Judea and Samaria are under the authority of the Staff Officer of Archeology, an office in the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration for Judea and Samaria.

Due to the office’s limited resources, Shragai said, enforcement of laws protecting archeological sites in Judea and Samaria has been lax.

“The Civil Administration isn’t enforcing the laws, so our goal has been the establishment of a Judea and Samaria division of the Israel Antiquities Authority.”

Large sites, such as Sebastia in Samaria, have been targeted by vandals, Shragai continued, with major sites destroyed or damaged, with some vandalized with graffiti. In some instances, the Palestine Liberation Organization flag has been raised over the sites.

During a recent tour with Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel (New Hope) of the Tel Arumeh site in the Shechem (Nablus) region in Samaria, for instance, it was discovered that a four-story mosque dedicated to terrorists, dubbed the ‘Martyrs’ Mosque’, had been built.

“In the middle of the tour with the minister, we saw how [the vandals] had levelled the top of the site, destroying antiquities.”

The site, which houses the ruins of a Hasmonean fortress, is also mentioned in the Bible as the home of Gideon.

Unfortunately, Shragai said, the damage is more the rule than the exception. A recent survey of 365 major archeological sites across Judea and Samaria found that some 80% had suffered either moderate or serious damage at the hands of vandals.

“This is a catastrophe for our national heritage. This is reminiscent of what ISIS does. Three-thousand years of Jewish history has been erased in just a short time. You can’t restore destroyed archeological sites.”

 

Editor’s Addendum:

These are some of the comments that added useful information.

 

Eliezer Kaufman

And all the time the current and previous governments have authorized the civil administration and the IDF to turn a blind eye to all this and NOT devoted resources to preventing this – what sort of people do we have in government? They certainly are NOT for supporting the existence of a Jewish State and our heritage – looks like the country is falling apart – how about letting the Supreme Court dealing with this issue of incompetence and getting the Jews in the Diaspora raising a rumpus! 8 October, 2021

 

Moshe Moses

Its Time the New Government of Israel Wakes Up to this Cultural Destruction in Judea and Sameria of Israels and the Jewish Peoples History the Land G-d Gave to Abraham Over 3500 Years Ago Read the Hebrew Bible the Place this Where Abraham Issac Jacob Sarah Rebecca Rachel and Leah Jewish Peoples Patriarchs and Matriarchs are Buried in Hebron Judea and Sameria in the Cave of Ma’arat HaMachpela this Cave which Abraham Bought to Bury his Wife Sarah also History of King David the 12 Tribes of Israel all in Judea and Sameria full of Jewish History. Evil Frankenstein Thieves Have no History their Name Palestinian its a Roman Name Taken By Yassar Arafat The Blood Thirsty Murderer of Israelis In Actuality he is Arab who Came from Egypt after 1967 Arab Israel War The So Called Palestinians are Arabs Who Came to Israel from Egypt Syria and Other Parts of the Middle East in Search of Work After 1948 Israel Independence to Israel they are Not Indigenous People the Jews are the Only Indigenous People that Why the Frankenstein’s Deliberately Destroy Jewish History in Judea and Sameria as to Erase it and so they Can Steal Jewish Land and Claim it and with as Their Own with the Help of European Union Frankenstein’s Accomplices. Thank G-d For Shomrim Al HaNetzach Bringing the Info to Government of Israels Attention More Monitoring will be Done.

 

Avi

It is hard to understand how and why the Israel government manages to be so passive on issues such as this that are crucial to the Jewish State’s very survival, not to mention the loss to science, archeology, history, tourism, etc. Who are those incompetent ignorant people in charge of these issues, yet doing nothing about them?

 

Stan

The invented Palestinians were and still are a political party created to disrupt all Jewish life,Arabs who wish to coexist and distance themselves from the pa land of anarchy the Hamas land of anarchy ,trying to erase the true history of the region from thousands of years, .In Israel like the Druz and other Muslims have prospered and are loyal to Israel,there is no ancient history of the pa or hamas in the region ,unless you are talking about the railroad the ottomans were building with Arab labor.

 

Fivish

Where is the outcry forn the international community of historians and cultural heritage experts? No, they are complicit in the antisemitic destruction of all that is Jewish. Where is the Israeli government protecting its nations history? There is ambivalence in high places which must not prevail.

 

A

This is the price for not expelling arabs from Judea, Samaria and Gaza 54 years ago.

 

blue

There was just as much ancient Judean archeology found in the Sinai peninsula and when all the Peninsula was returned to Egypt Israel emptied out its museums and storage rooms of all the finds in the Sinai peninsula and gave it to Egypt to the last pottery.