In response to a query by MK Shir, Minister Micha Biton exposes the Israeli neglect of Jewish heritage sites. The site of Joshua bin Nun’s altar, for example.
Israel, by not applying her sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, pays a heavy price in the area of protecting antiquities and Jewish heritage sites. In the query that she submitted to the Ministry of Defense, Member of Knesset Michal Shir requested details on the Ministry of Defense’s activities to protect Joshua’s altar in Mount Eval. The response that she received from the Minister of the Defense is concerning.
Member of Knesset Shir raised her question following the PA’s recent steps in the area, when electrical infrastructure was laid down there. MK Shir asked “What is being done to prevent the Palestinian Authority from taking over Joshua bin Nun’s altar?” In his response, Minister Biton said that “The State of Israel does not have the organizational structure to support all Israel’s civil and national problems and challenges in Judea and Samaria”.
In her question, Shir noted that steps taken by the PA in the area indicate the intention to take over the altar of Joshua bin Nun since you don’t just lay down electrical infrastructure for no reason”.
We note that the site of the altar is under Israeli control and is located next to the area under PA control. In his response, Minister Biton claimed that “The electrical infrastructure laid down in Har Eival is infrastructure that was recognized and approved by the Central Command. The infrastructure work does no harm to archaeology including the site of Joshua bin Nun’s altar. Moreover, it is not possible to go into further detail for operational reasons”.
Minister Biton’s answer did not satisfy Member of Knesset Michal Shir, and she asked Minister Biton for clarification: “We see that the Palestinians Authority is investing great efforts and funds in this heritage site; is the State of Israel acting in parallel and investing funds, manpower and a development plan for this site, which is one of the People of Israel’s most important heritage sites in our Land, and are there are intelligence efforts to locate and thwart efforts to take over national heritage sites in general, and this one in particular?”
Minister Biton gave a slightly less formal answer to this question and placed the blame on the State of Israel because the Civil Administration does not have funds and is not prepared to protect Area C”: The State of Israel has not built a functioning, sharp and fast mechanism in Judea and Samaria. It has not built and is not now building and has no budget, and there are good people in the Civil Administration who are working very hard, but the Civil Administration is built to serve 50 thousand residents as in the past, and today there are already half of million residents. It is built as if to serve 2 million Palestinians and there are already 4 million there. The organizational structure of the Civil Administration does not answer Israel’s national and political goals for this time, and this harms all of the citizens, especially the citizens of Judea and Samaria and it harms the Palestinians as well”.
According to him, “The Administration is not capable and not organized to fight for Area C. There is no fight over Area C, it is a bluff by the State of Israel. A bluff by the government of Israel. In all of Judea and Samaria there are 17 overseers - Overseers for the environment, overseers for the land, overseers for planning and building. In a special effort by the minister for heritage he is organizing 5 overseers for archaeology, which is its main point of your question, to protect the heritage sites, and he is still looking for the money to give to the Administration, so that we will take 5 overseers to protect the heritage and archaeological sites. If you want there to be no construction transgressions in Area C, and be effective, and that there will be solutions of infrastructure and electricity and water services for the citizenry, we must make a revision”.
Member of Knesset Michal Shir answered in response that perhaps the appropriate solution is to “apply sovereignty, which will solve everything”. As for Biton, he claimed that “Sovereignty costs a few shekels too”. According to him, sovereignty can be a declaration, but someone must do the oversight, provide service. So meanwhile, with or without sovereignty, I say, '”We do not have the organizational structure to support all of Israel’s civil and national problems and challenges in Judea and Samaria, and we will continue to come here to answer questions about electricity and water and roads and market regulation and regulate a Blue Line and fight for Area C and the preservation of archaeology”.
“I was in Beit El two days ago”, said Minister Biton, noting that in the heart of the town there are scientific archaeological findings on “the Jewish settlement with a mikveh, and now a stone tool belonging to the priests was found there, our forefathers’ heritage, near an abandoned and unprotected site, Jacob’s Ladder. Now, along with the Administration, we will denote a number of heritage sites in order to protect them and invest in them, but this is just a drop in the ocean. In the case about which you asked, the site will not be harmed; it is guarded and the work is carried out in this way so that the site will be protected for future generations”.