Israel seizes cultural site in West Bank.” So read a recent headline in the Financial Times, going on to describe how the Israeli military had seized a plot of Palestinian land at the summit of Tel Sebastia, a site rich with archaeological significance and tourism potential.
In 2012, Palestine submitted an application for Sebastia to gain Unesco World Heritage status on the basis of its ancient remains from the Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods.
Israel’s heritage ministry, on the other hand, confirmed plans to erect a “gigantic” Israeli flagpole there, for unspecified “military needs”, according to a document seen by the Financial Times.
“The seizure this month,” the FT writes, “was one of several moves by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government to expand control over cultural heritage sites in the West Bank, alongside numerous moves to expand Jewish settlements and entrench Israel’s presence in the occupied territory.”
Cultural heritage can be a powerful tool. It is, of course, standard practice for countries to use it to enhance their own national identity and image……more
