HEBRON: The director of the tourism and antiquities directorate in Hebron, Jabr Al-Rajoub, said Israeli authorities are moving forward with a plan to assert control over 142 archaeological sites in the governorate by transferring their administration from military authorities to a civilian body affiliated with the Israeli government.
Al-Rajoub said that the move is part of a broader policy aimed at tightening control over archaeological sites and using them to advance the colonial settlement project.
He said settler organizations backed by the Israeli government, under the direction of hard-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, are working to transfer responsibility for managing the sites to Israeli colonists, who have expanded their presence by establishing new settlement outposts near several sites.
He said among the sites that have recently come under increased colonist control are the Ein Far’a archaeological area and the Nabi Saleh shrine east of the town of Idhna, following the establishment of the Adorayim settlement outpost nearby.
Al-Rajoub also referred to recent roofing and restoration work carried out at the Ibrahimi Mosque by settler organizations with the backing of the Israeli government, saying it forms part of the same policy aimed at imposing new realities at Palestinian archaeological and religious sites.
He said settler groups have for years lobbied for the transfer of administrative authority over the sites in an effort to accelerate plans to expand Israeli control and consolidate their presence through settlement institutions.
According to Al-Rajoub, most of the targeted archaeological sites are in Area C of the occupied West Bank and have for years been subjected to repeated measures, including land seizure, the establishment of settlement outposts, and restrictions on Palestinian access, which he said are aimed at altering the historical and cultural character of the sites.
Meanwhile, the governorate of Jerusalem said that the laying of the foundation stone for the so-called “Heritage Center” at the site of the historic Jerusalem International Airport in Qalandiya, north of occupied Jerusalem, constitutes a dangerous escalation in settlement expansion.
It is a flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which affirms the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, the governorate said.
It stated that the move by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reflects a shift from planning to the imposition of facts on the ground, as part of a systematic policy aimed at reshaping the geographical and historical identity of Jerusalem.
It said the project seeks to seize one of the most prominent Palestinian sovereign landmarks and transform it into a facility serving the Israeli narrative, thereby entrenching an unlawful annexation project.
The statement added that the plan is part of decisions adopted by the Israeli government on May 17, coinciding with so-called “Jerusalem Day,” aimed at expanding and deepening settlement activity in the city.
It includes converting the former Jerusalem International Airport into a cultural and ideological center that reinterprets the site’s history according to an Israeli narrative.
The governorate warned that the project goes beyond the reuse of the building, extending to the reengineering of historical memory by promoting narratives related to “settlement history” and linking the site to Israeli political and military figures, in an effort to erase Palestinian and Arab historical ties to the airport as a symbol of Palestinian sovereignty.
It noted that the project coincides with wider settlement escalation in northern Jerusalem, including plans for a waste treatment facility on Qalandiya lands, the confiscation of hundreds of dunams, and the displacement or isolation of Palestinian families, in addition to the expansion of the Atarot settlement project, which aims to establish thousands of housing units.
The governorate said these measures form an integrated system to reshape Jerusalem’s geography by connecting settlement blocs while fragmenting Palestinian geographic continuity, particularly in the city’s northern areas.
