Controversial academic conference on archaeology in the West Bank opens in Jerusalem

An academic conference devoted to “Archaeology and Site Conservation in Judea and Samaria” (the biblical name for the West Bank) opens at the Orient Hotel in Jerusalem.

The conference takes place as archaeology in the West Bank has been in the spotlight.

In recent weeks, a legislative initiative to place the field under direct Israeli civilian control has been advanced in the Knesset. The bill is widely seen as a significant step toward annexation in the heritage field and has pitted many archaeologists against the legislation’s political supporters, including Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu.

The Heritage Ministry is one of the conference’s sponsors, and addressing the participants, Eliyahu mentions the bill as one of the initiatives his ministry is supporting. Some attendees walk out as he speaks.

“The heritage of this country is indeed the heritage of the Jewish people, but also the heritage of the entire world,” he says.

“There is also legislation, not legislation that we initiated, but legislation whose underlying idea we support, to transform the Archaeology Unit [of the Civil Administration] into an Antiquities Authority,” he adds, referring to the body responsible for archaeology in Israel’s sovereign territory.

The Archaeology Unit of the Civil Administration is a branch of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which is responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank and is headed by a staff officer.

The conference takes place today and tomorrow, with dozens of lectures devoted to research and excavations in Hebron, the Judean Desert, and Shiloh, among other sites. Lectures include experts affiliated with all Israeli universities offering archaeology studies, including Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University, Bar-Ilan University, and University of Haifa. However, only Ariel University in the West Bank has given the event its academic sponsorship.

Over 200 people attend the conference in its opening hours.

Outside the hotel, a few demonstrators gather to protest the event, holding signs reading “No to archaeology in the service of transfer [of Palestinians]” and “Antiquities, not at any price.”