Knesset advances controversial West Bank antiquity bill in first reading |
A controversial bill creating a new civilian authority in charge of antiquities in the West Bank was approved by the Knesset plenum in the first reading overnight between Monday and Tuesday.
Lawmakers voted 23-14 in favor of the bill, which aims to establish the State of Israel’s direct responsibility for antiquities, heritage sites, and archaeology in the West Bank, in a move that critics maintain would amount to de facto annexation.
“The current war is about our identity, our culture, about God, about our deep belonging to this land,” said Likud MK Amit Halevy, the sponsor of the bill, ahead of the vote. “This law is part of the victory over this barbarism.”
If passed into law, which will require two additional readings by the plenum, the bill will create a “Judea and Samaria Heritage Authority,” using the biblical name of the West Bank, which has become prevalent in Israeli public discourse.
The authority is set to assume the responsibilities currently held by the Defense Ministry.
The person responsible for the file now is a staff officer of the Archaeology Unit of the Civil Administration, a branch of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which is in charge of civilian affairs in the territory.
According to the Civil Administration’s Archaeology Unit website, there are over 2,600 archaeological sites in the West Bank.
Notable biblical sites listed on the unit’s website include the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, Sebastia; the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron; and Tel Shiloh, where, according to the Bible, the Jewish Tabernacle was housed for some 400 years. Several Hasmonean fortresses, the palace of the 1st century CE........