The Palestinian Authority was caught attempting to raze and build upon an ancient Jewish historic site known as Joshua’s Altar in the territory of northern Samaria, triggering an investigation by Israeli authorities.
The Jewish News Syndicate reported:
The Palestinian Authority has begun building a neighborhood on the site of Joshua’s Altar on Mount Ebal in northern Samaria, Channel 12 reported.
An inspector from the Samaria Regional Council’s Lands Department on Sunday discovered that the P.A. has started paving roads as part of a project for 32 housing units on the ruins of the historic site, which is mentioned in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua in the Hebrew Bible.
Following the revelation, Israel’s Civil Administration said that the construction vehicle operating on the site had been confiscated and that the archaeologist in charge of antiquities affairs in Judea and Samaria had opened an investigation.
The area was conquered by Israel during its defensive war against attacking Jordanian forces in the Six Day War of 1967. It was transferred to joint Israeli and Palestinian control under the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993, which remain partially in effect even if the Palestinian Authority has long since abandoned efforts to negotiate toward peace.
Archaeology is a highly contested discipline in the region, with Palestinian and Muslim leaders often denying Jewish historical claims to the area. Muslim authorities have been accused of excavating beneath the Temple Mount to remove evidence of past Jewish sites in antiquity. Palestinians, in turn, have falsely accused Israel of trying to undermine the Al Aqsa Mosque by conducting archaeological investigations outside the Temple Mount area.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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