Language:
English
Year of publication:
2022
Titel der Quelle:
Jerusalem Quarterly (Institute of Jerusalem Studies)
Angaben zur Quelle:
90 (2022) 58-74
Keywords:
Arab-Israeli conflict
;
Archaeology Political aspects
;
Sabastiya (West Bank) Antiquities
Abstract:
Sabastiya, an archaeological site and living city northwest of Nablus, was excavated by Harvard University in 1908 using Palestinian labor for the purposes of supporting biblical archaeology. The excavation left scars in the city that are still felt today, both through the intergenerational trauma of the physical labor, but also through the continued Zionist interest in the site that keeps Sabastiya as a target. Today, the city is still suffering, with Israeli settlers targeting the site and its residents frequently, burning trees, dumping sewage waste in the valleys, and terrorizing the residents. The archaeological site, most of which sits within Area C, is controlled by the Israeli Archaeological Department of the Civil Administration, essentially a militarized team of archaeologists headed by the Ministry of Defense. Although a century apart, the excavation and the military and settler violence against the residents of Sabastiya, and the site itself, have a common denominator: a Zionist ideology that believes there is a valuable singular origin to the incredibly complex layers beneath and above the surface of the ground.
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