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Palestinians warn West Bank antiquities bill designed to expand Israeli control
A controversial Israeli bill that would extend civil control over ancient sites in the West Bank has drawn criticism from Palestinians and Israeli rights groups who say it is tantamount to annexation of Palestinian territory and would expand Jewish settlements.
The bill, which aims to establish a “Judea, Samaria and Gaza Heritage Authority” under the Heritage Ministry, passed one of three votes in the Knesset in May, but it is unclear whether the final vote will be held before the Knesset disperses ahead of the October election. Amid the controversy surrounding the bill, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly halted its legislative process earlier this month.
The bill would bring management of Roman, Byzantine and Crusader-era sites in the Palestinian territories under Israeli Heritage Ministry management and allow related “expropriation and purchase of real estate” in the West Bank, which Israel calls by its Hebrew biblical name, Judea and Samaria.
That in effect would strip away oversight of some ancient sites from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which under the 1990s Oslo peace accords has exercised limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank, territory Israel captured in the 1967 war.
The PA’s tourism minister, Hani Al-Hayek, said “control over these antiquities is intended to expand control and expand settlements in these areas, deep inside Palestinian territories.”
Israel says the bill’s purpose is to protect ancient sites, though the Israel Defense Forces has officially stated its opposition to the proposal, and a Knesset committee legal adviser warned that if passed into law, it would violate Israel’s international commitments and reinforce claims of “creeping annexation.”
Peace Now, an Israeli settlements watchdog, said the bill “constitutes an annexationist measure in every respect” and would lead to broad-scale confiscation of Palestinian land.
Using archaeology to expand settlements is not a new practice, but the scope of the Israeli government’s measures has been unprecedented, Peace Now said.
One example is the Palestinian village of Sebastia in the northern West Bank where residents, many of whom trace their roots to the land back centuries, rely heavily on tourism to a nearby archaeological site.
The ancient site in Sebastia has ruins from the 9th-century BC Israelite kingdom as well as Roman, Byzantine, Crusader and Ottoman remnants, archaeologists say. It is on a tentative list for inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In late 2025, Israel announced a plan to seize about 1,800 dunams (445 acres) at the site, which it said was meant to develop the area, affecting around 5,000 olive trees growing in the village groves, village officials said.
“They are incorporating areas containing water resources, roads and antiquities, leaving us as residents without any resources. It is part of settlement expansion,” said Sebastia Deputy Mayor Nizar Kayed.
Business had already been suffering since late 2023 with tourism dropping because of war in the region, said Nahed Sakha, whose Sebastia restaurant is on land slated for confiscation.
“It seems that the Israeli plan (is) to isolate the archaeological site from the people,” Sakha said.
Knesset member Zvi Sukkot of the far-right Religious Zionism party, who has been key in advancing the new bill, says extending Israeli control over the sites is meant to safeguard ancient remnants dating back to biblical times.
“There’s nothing here that changes the legal status of Judea and Samaria,” he told Reuters.
“There are many people who are bothered by our desire to prove the ties between the people of Israel and this land,” he said. “All the stories of the Bible, all our history, the people (of Israel) were born in Judea and Samaria.”
Despite the endorsement, the new bill has also caused concern within Israeli institutions.
In an open letter to Netanyahu and Sukkot, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities called for it to be scrapped.
“This will undoubtedly lead to an immediate deterioration in Israel’s international relations in the field of archaeology, and it will also have an impact on other areas of science and research,” the academy said.
While the vast majority of Israeli archaeologists agree that antiquities in the West Bank have been significantly impacted by looting, vandalism and neglect, the bill has faced backlash from the outset.
Many archaeologists have said the new system would not help care for the antiquities, in light of the complexity of the area, but would rather further expose Israeli academics to boycotts and cuts to international funding.
Others pointed out that, according to prevalent interpretations of international law, Israel is not allowed to conduct academic excavations in the disputed areas, but only salvage excavations.
And many charged the coalition with using the field of antiquities to advance a policy of annexation, without explicitly labeling it as such.
