Sebastia, occupied West Financial institution – Israel calls it an archaeological venture to focus on Jewish heritage and create a brand new Israeli nationwide park. Palestinians see it as additional proof of Israel’s plans to annex an historical city and erase Palestinian historical past in an space that tells the 5,000-year-old shared story of the peoples who’ve lived on this land.
Far-right, pro-settler Israeli authorities ministers have been in Sebastia on Could 12 as a part of a delegation to mark the looming seizure of the city’s archaeological park, one of many largest and most vital of 6,000 websites within the West Financial institution.
Ultranationalist Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu, himself a resident of an unlawful West Financial institution settlement, hailed the start of Israeli excavation on the website and the approaching creation of “Samaria Nationwide Park”, which is able to give attention to the realm’s Jewish historical past.
Palestinians say that can come together with an try to color over their ties to the land. The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities referred to as the excavations “preparation for Sebastia’s annexation and isolation from its environment”.
Israeli politicians check with Sebastia as Samaria, or Shomron in Hebrew, and say it was the capital of the Biblical Kingdom of Israel almost three millennia in the past.
However the archaeological website contains the ruins of a Byzantine basilica, a Roman discussion board and amphitheatre, and the Crusader-era Church of St John, which was rebuilt right into a mosque – and is believed to be the location of the tomb of John the Baptist, recognized within the Quran as Prophet Yahya.
Sebastia’s archaeological park, as soon as a tourism hotspot and nonetheless a pilgrimage website for Christians, is being thought-about for inclusion on UNESCO’s world heritage checklist, topic to an utility being finalised by Palestinian officers.
‘River of blood’
Sebastia mayor Mohammed Azim and city residents have lengthy been warning of Israel’s intention to “Judaise” Sebastia and switch it into an Israeli-only tourism website.
Alarm intensified after the municipality acquired a land seizure order to assemble an set up for “navy functions” on the summit of an historical hilltop within the space final July.
Chatting with Al Jazeera in his workplace overlooking the more and more abandoned outdated city, Azim stated a “river of blood will circulation into the village” if development of the barracks begins.
“The navy is aiming to make life insufferable for the residents right here, so that they ultimately give up to actuality and depart – similar to those that have been displaced in Jenin and Tulkarem,” Azim stated, referring to the greater than 40,000 Palestinians displaced by Israeli military operations within the occupied West Financial institution this yr.
“Now, troopers enter the village every day – and with the clear intention of killing,” Azim added. “We’ll resist development – peacefully, in fact. The landowners is not going to hand over their land.”
The mayor referred to as for condemnation of intensifying navy violence within the village and the focusing on of youngsters, notably the military’s deadly taking pictures of 14-year-old Ahmad Jazar in January.
For its half, the Israeli state argues that the village of Sebastia is not going to be affected by the archaeological work, because it lies exterior the boundaries of the proposed nationwide park.
However Sebastia Archaeological Museum curator and lifelong resident, Walaa Ghazzal, says the plans are an escalation in Israel’s plans to ultimately expel residents and enterprise house owners and stop Palestinians from accessing the city, its ruins, and the sprawling hills and olive fields round it.
Ghazzal advised Al Jazeera that “residents are afraid of the longer term”, particularly these close to the ruins.
“The state of affairs may be very harmful,” she stated. “Quickly, they’ll stop us from going to the archaeological website.
“In my view, we’ve solely months earlier than we’re advised to go away our properties,” Ghazzal added. “We’re seeing the longer term in Gaza and within the camps [in the West Bank]. They’re making an attempt to erase us.”
‘Biblical heritage’
Israeli ministers and settler politicians are utilizing rhetoric about defending Jewish Biblical heritage to disguise their long-held need to annex Sebastia, Azim stated.
Eliyahu was joined in Sebastia by Minister of Environmental Safety Idit Silman and Yossi Dagan, chairman of the Shomron Regional Council, which controls 35 unlawful West Financial institution settlements.
Silman has hailed the scheme and advised Israeli media, “historic justice is being achieved”, accusing Palestinians of making an attempt to “erase” Jewish heritage.
The Israeli authorities has lengthy been clear that Sebastia, which most historians agree was the capital of the Kingdom of Israel for lower than 200 years, will probably be taken over and reworked into the centrepiece of Israeli tourism within the West Financial institution.
In Could 2023, the Israeli authorities authorized a 30 million shekel (greater than $8m) scheme to revive the park and set up a tourism centre, new entry roads, and an expanded navy presence. The 4 million shekel ($1.2m) regeneration of a disused Hijaz railway station about two miles from Sebastia, final operational within the closing years of the Ottoman Empire, has additionally been introduced.
“The archeological excavations are designed to reveal the antiquities of the location and make the traditional metropolis accessible all through all its intervals: from the start of the settlement within the eighth century BCE throughout the historical Kingdom of Israel, by means of the Hellenistic metropolis, the magnificent Roman metropolis constructed by King Herod [called “Sebastos” after Emperor Augustus], to the Byzantine interval when a church was constructed on the website,” stated the workplace of Israeli Minister of Heritage Eliyahu.
Erasing Palestinian id
Ghazzal stated Sebastia’s ruins exhibit a “distinct native tradition” in a geographic area which has “at all times been often known as Palestine”. She stated the stays emphasise the non secular and cultural significance of the city to conquering empires, and its multifaith inhabitants’ peaceable coexistence for hundreds of years.
Within the Palestinian submission to UNESCO, it’s famous that the current city of Sebastia nonetheless preserves “the traditional title [and] is situated on the jap a part of the Roman metropolis, indicating a robust ingredient of cultural continuity”.
However for these centered on the deliberate Israeli nationwide park, it’s solely Jewish historical past that issues.
Responding to a question from Al Jazeera, Eliyahu’s workplace stated that Sebastia was “at first a Jewish heritage website, the place archaeological stays from the Kingdom of Israel interval have been discovered”.
“It is very important emphasise that even when we have been to dig on the website to the depth of the Earth’s core, not even a grain of historic proof of historical Palestinian settlement can be discovered on the website,” Eliyahu’s workplace added.
Yossi Dagan, who lives in neighbouring Shavei Shomron, has lengthy advocated for the takeover of Sebastia and emphasises its prominence in Biblical historical past. He advised Israeli media on the archaeological website: “While you dig right here, you contact the Bible with your personal fingers.”
However Ghazzal stated that the Israeli authorities’s therapy of the Biblical tales within the Outdated Testomony as historic actuality is designed to relegate the claims of Palestinians to have lived on the land for 1000’s of years, and ignores the Palestinian individuals’s historical ties to their land.
“You’ll be able to’t base your declare to the land on faith – civilisations are in regards to the individuals who develop their id, their works and monuments – even their language,” Ghazzal stated.
“Israel needs to kill the tales from our previous and change them with poison; it’s a crime towards our historical past,” Ghazzal added. “After they demolish our monuments, take away households who hold the historical past alive, who will communicate after that – and carry our story for the following technology?”
Ghost city
Ahmad Kayed, a 59-year-old Sebastia villager and main activist, advised Al Jazeera the ruins is not going to be “taken with out a battle”, and demonstrations are being instigated.
He stated Israel is “planning one thing massive” in Sebastia and referenced new iron blockades being erected on roads encircling the city.
It’s already extraordinarily unsafe for Sebastia residents to go to the archaeological park due to settler assaults and near-daily navy invasions, he stated. However as soon as a navy barracks is established, it will likely be completely off limits.
“They’re working step-by-step to get their fingers on Sebastia and hold us struggling on a regular basis so individuals will depart,” Kayed stated, referring to the at the very least 40 households which have left the city since October 7, 2023.
“We’re within the second Nakba and Sebastia is underneath siege,” he added. “However Sebastia is robust, we all know find out how to face them as a result of we’ve achieved it earlier than.”
He identified that residents rose as much as thwart Israel’s plans to take Sebastia within the late Seventies, and so they did so once more to halt settlers pumping sewage onto agricultural land in 2013. Two years later, residents’ protests and sit-ins blocked the development of a brand new entry highway for settlers, which Eliyahu’s workplace justified as vital for the “a whole lot of 1000’s of Israelis who will need to come, be taught, and expertise the Jewish heritage” of Sebastia.
However Kayed admits occasions have modified, and violence from the navy as we speak is not like something he has skilled in his a long time of activism.
“Once we determine what to do, we will probably be good, and we’ll show in new methods, and everybody in Sebastia will observe us,” he added.
He was additionally gravely involved that if excavations passed off, Israelis would desecrate archaeological findings that contradicted their declare to the land, with a lot nonetheless to be uncovered if Palestinian-led digs weren’t blocked.
The municipality nonetheless hopes UNESCO will present the village safety and add the ruins to its World Heritage checklist. The mayor additionally hopes the archaeological park will be part of 56 different areas on UNESCO’s register of great websites thought-about to be “at risk”.
Companies close to the archaeological website say they’ve misplaced greater than three-quarters of their customized since October 7.
Samer Sha’er, proprietor of a espresso store immediately subsequent to the park and Sebastia’s imposing Roman columns, stated a navy outpost can be devastating for companies.
“There will probably be every day confrontations, fixed navy presence, and no sense of safety,” he stated. “Nobody will need to come and sit right here whereas the military is stationed close by – neither store house owners nor guests will be capable of keep.”
As soon as holy land coveted by prophets and conquering emperors, Sebastia has been diminished to a ghost city – haunted by the glory of its historical past, which has additionally made it a goal for annexation by the ultranationalist Israeli authorities.
Kayed regarded visibly moved as he described his youth enjoying on the hills of the archaeological park, and a lifetime spent making an attempt to save lots of his house.
He was evidently aggrieved that the city had not acted extra shortly to unify towards the creeping risk of the navy barracks or eventual annexation. Nevertheless it appears all these involved, together with the city’s mayor, usually are not positive what’s coming subsequent – or when.
“This land means the whole lot to me,” Kayed added. “I’ve spent all my childhood, all my life going to the park.
“They are going to confiscate my land [to build the barracks]. I planted olive bushes there with my mom, it is vitally painful to lose them, Kayed stated. “The village won’t ever hand over on the ruins – that is our historical past, our life. We’ll battle till the tip.”