English translation of the Hebrew original.
The damage to the altar site on Mount Ebal became a major issue over the past week. Party leaders, ministers, and even the prime minister and president broadly condemned the incident. Unfortunately, however, it was not an exceptional event.
Damage to archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria has become routine. The attention this incident has received reflects a combination of factors: the site’s historical importance, the election period, and the journalistic integrity of one reporter, Lia Spilkin. Some of the site has indeed been restored. But, as noted, the serious incident on Mount Ebal was not the first, and as long as Israeli indifference continues, it will not be the last.
The damage to the site’s perimeter wall occurred as part of a Palestinian Authority project to build a road connecting the town of Asira ash-Shamaliya to the Askar refugee camp on the outskirts of Nablus. Funding comes partly from the Palestinian Authority’s commission for resisting the wall and settlements. The project is expected to turn Israel’s military foothold on Mount Ebal into an enclave and accelerate Nablus’s expansion onto the mountain.
Directly connected to the road’s development, a large event took place on Mount Ebal about two months ago, attended by Walid Assaf, the minister responsible for opposing settlements. Hundreds of trees were planted on the summit to mark 33 years since the first intifada. A “campaign to protect mountain summits” was launched, in which Assaf announced that his office intended to develop agriculture across 2,000 dunams at the summit and provide comprehensive support to farmers working there.
He explained that the overarching goal was to gain agricultural control over the high mountain summits of Judea and Samaria. A parallel story is unfolding at Tel Aroma (Khirbet al-Urma), an ancient Hasmonean fortress. About a year ago, the council of the nearby village of Beita began construction and road-building works involving extensive destruction of antiquities. A large Palestinian flag was raised there.
Recently, the Palestinian Authority and its commission for resisting the wall and settlements held a large tree-planting event within the archaeological site. The Palestinian Authority’s Nablus district and Beita’s municipality also published a plan to build a mosque on the site, dedicated to the memory of deceased terrorists from the village.
These are not sporadic events. They are part of an official, organized and funded Palestinian Authority plan to establish facts on the ground, dating back to 2009.
This week, following publication of the damage at Mount Ebal, the Civil Administration explained that it could not act because the site lies in Area B, under the Palestinian Authority’s civilian control.
However, the Oslo Accords state that “the Palestinian side shall protect and safeguard all archaeological sites, take all measures necessary to protect such sites and to prevent damage to them.”
The Palestinian Authority’s actions, both direct and through failure to prevent damage to sites under its jurisdiction, constitute a serious violation of the agreement’s provisions. Israel has the right to bring these repeated violations to an end. Moreover, Israel holds ultimate authority in the area and, under the UNESCO convention to which it is a party, has not only a right but also an obligation to protect these sites.
The problem is not the Palestinian national effort to establish facts on the ground, but the Israeli government’s failure to protect its heritage sites. Israel must state clearly that whenever the agreement’s terms are violated, it will act proactively to protect its heritage sites.
Original author identification: Omer Alali, spokesperson for the Shiloh Forum, a research institute for settlement and policy.