Israeli archaeological plan = “dispossession and annexation”

JVL Introduction

Israel plans to expropriate nearly 450 acres of privately owned land in the northern West Bank for a huge archaeological development project condemned by Peace Now as harming “not only the landowners, but also the prospect of a peaceful solution that upholds the rights and heritage of both peoples.”

The Sebastia plan represents the largest antiquities-related expropriation order issued in the West Bank since its illegal occupation by Israel in 1967. The previous largest, at Susya in the South Hebron Hills, one sixth the size, resulted in Palestinian residents being expelled and barred from accessing the site.

Emek Shaveh, an Israeli anti-occupation group founded by archaeologists, said, “Under the guise of concern for heritage, the government is investing tens of millions of shekels in turning heritage sites into weapons of dispossession and annexation.”

International law prohibits occupying powers from conducting archaeological excavations in territories under their control.

NWI

This article was originally published by Ha'aretz on Thu 20 Nov 2025. Read the original here.