For Israel, Sebastian Park will be a connection to their past. Palestinians perceive an effort to drive them out. Sebastian, West Bank – It is an archaeological project, Israel says, to emphasize Jewish heritage and establish a new Israeli national park.
Palestinians regard it as proof of Israel’s intentions to annex an ancient town and erase Palestinian heritage in a place that is telling the 5,000-year-old collective history of the peoples who have inhabited this region.
Right-wing, pro-settlement Israeli government ministers visited Sebastian on May 12 with a delegation to celebrate the imminent takeover of the town’s archaeological park, which is one of the largest and most significant of 6,000 such sites in the West Bank.
Ultranationalist Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, himself a settler in an illegal West Bank settlement, welcomed the start of Israeli excavation work at the site and the eventual establishment of “Samaria National Park”, which will emphasize the region’s Jewish heritage.
Palestinians assert that will accompany an effort to whitewash over their connection to the land. The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities labelled the diggings “preparation for Sebastia’s annexation and exclusion from its context”.
Israeli politicians use the name Sebastia as Samaria, or Shomron in Hebrew, and assert that it was the capital city of the Biblical Kingdom of Israel close to three millennia ago.
But the site of the ancient ruins also features the remains of a Byzantine basilica, a Roman forum and theatre, and the Crusader-age Church of St John, reconstructed as a mosque – and is said to be the location of the tomb of John the Baptist, referred to in the Quran as Prophet Yahya.
Sebastia’s archaeological park, previously a tourist attraction and today a holy site for Christians who still visit it, is a contender on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites pending Palestinian authorities finalising an application.
