The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), a body of the Israeli government that oversees national artifacts and sites, rejected a proposal to take on an official role overseeing West Bank antiquities under a bill presented by Likud party member Amit Halevi on Tuesday.
In response, Halevi, whose policies have dealt with land use and national heritage in the past, subsequently changed the bill, proposing a new agency be created under the country’s Heritage Ministry to take on the role in the IAA’s place, according to a report by the Times of Israel. (The politician claims that that according to Israeli law, their legal oversight of antiquities applies to the West Bank region.)
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The Civil Administration’s Archaeology Unit, overseen by a military office, has historically managed archaeological sites in the West Bank. Halevi’s plan seeks to transfer the role away from the CAA. Representatives of the agency claim that the maneuver could harm Israel’s academic ties and international reputation.
The West Bank is comprised of an estimated 2,600 archaeological and religious sites, including some related to significant periods of Jewish history like the Qumran Caves, Sebastia, and Shiloh. Among these sites are others that have been the subject of looting and damage, prompting Israeli archaeologists to call for heightened protections to preserve them.
Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups have argued that archaeological sites are at risk of being used by Likud members as a political tools, advancing ways to take over land under dubious legal standards and to further displace Palestinians from control of the sites.
During a recent Knesset committee meeting this week discussing the bill, IAA Chief Scientist Gideon Avni argued that the current military-led structure is more effective at preserving the sites than civilian oversight. A staff officer of archaeology Benny Har Even said in the hearing that he believed the bill could threaten protections of threatened West Bank locations if Israeli’s security forces are removed from overseeing them.