A conflict with Israel’s new far-right government over the cultural legacy in the occupied West Bank has been triggered by a 2,700-year-old ivory spoon that was just returned to the Palestinian Authority from the United States.
In the Middle East, where Israelis and Palestinians both utilize ancient relics to support their claims to the land, there are political sensitivity issues surrounding archaeology that are brought into sharp relief by the conflict.
The historic return of the item to the Palestinians earlier this month was ordered by Israel’s ultranationalist heritage minister to be investigated for legality, and he is pressing for annexing the archaeological sites in the occupied West Bank.
The relic, an ivory cosmetic spoon thought to have been stolen from a West Bank location, was taken by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in late 2021 as part of a settlement with New York billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt.
It was one of 180 antiquities that Steinhardt had bought and unlawfully plundered but relinquished as part of a deal to escape punishment.
In what the U.S. State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs called “the first occasion of such repatriation” by the United States to the Palestinians, American officials handed an item back to the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on January 5.
The countries of Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Jordan, Libya, and Israel have already received dozens of Steinhardt’s relinquished antiquities. The first and only thing ever returned to the Palestinians was a spoon.
The return fell during the first few weeks of the new Israeli administration, which is made up of ultranationalists who see the West Bank as the biblical homeland of the Jewish people and as being intrinsically tied to the state of Israel.
The office of Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu said last week that the Oslo Accords, which the United States has signed, would be investigated as part of the legality of the repatriation, which is “being examined by the archaeological staff officer with the legal counsel.”
The case serves as a reminder of the complex relationship between archaeology and cultural heritage and the contrasting claims of Israelis and Palestinians in the protracted conflict.
Jihad Yassin, director general of excavations and museums at the Palestinian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry, said, “Any relic that we know it comes out illegally from Palestine, we have the right to demand it back.” “Each relic tells a narrative from this land’s past,”
The ministry is a component of the Palestinian Authority, a 1990s Oslo Accords-created administration that has some limited authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Coordination on a variety of problems, including archaeology and cultural heritage, was expected to be a part of those accords between Israel and the Palestinians.
However, the accords have generally fallen apart. According to Yassin, the archaeological committee hasn’t convened in perhaps 20 years, and Israel and the Palestinians seldom ever coordinate efforts to prevent the theft of cultural property in the West Bank.
We attempt to safeguard these ancient sites as best we can, but there are challenges, he added.
Around 60% of the West Bank’s archaeological sites, according to Yassin, are in regions that the Israeli military completely controls. In areas that are under Palestinian Authority authority, theft prevention experts from Yassin’s ministry “manage to restrict in a high proportion the looting.”
Nevertheless, he said that a large number of the illegal objects that have found their way to Israel’s legitimate antiquities market were taken from the West Bank.
Court records state that Steinhardt paid $6,000 for the ivory cosmetic spoon in 2003 from Israeli antiquities dealer Gil Chaya. The relic lacked a provenance, which would have provided information on its origin and how it had been added to the dealer’s inventory, but Chaya said it was from the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank village of El-Koum.
The DA’s office reports that a “Red Carnelian Sun Fish amulet (that) dates to around 600 B.C.E.”), another item thought to have been stolen from the same village, is still missing. The object has not yet been located by Steinhardt, but according to the office, if it is, it will be returned to the Palestinians.
Last year, American officials returned 28 items to Israel, except the three that were taken from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
There are still seven people missing who were supposed to be repatriated to Israel. Many of the things that were sent back to Israel are thought to have been stolen from the West Bank.
The return of the relic to the Palestinians was raised by the Israel Antiquities Authority, but they chose not to react.
Eliyahu, the country’s Antiquities Authority’s Heritage Minister and a religious ultranationalist in Netanyahu’s administration, rejects the notion that there is a Palestinian population.
At an ancient site in a Palestinian-controlled territory close to the West Bank city of Nablus, he has charged the Palestinian Authority of “national terrorism” and “erasing heritage” since entering office.
What effect, if any, a review by the ministry’s legal counsel may have is yet unknown. Although it is doubtful that Israel will take the item from the Palestinians, a judicial ruling against the action may make future repatriations more difficult.
Eliyahu announced earlier this week that he would give the Israel Antiquities Authority complete control over historical sites, cultural landmarks, and theft prevention throughout the West Bank. This decision has drawn criticism from those who believe it would effectively apply Israeli law to the occupied territory, in violation of international law.
Currently, the Civil Administration’s archaeology staff officer, which is a division of the Defense Ministry, is in charge of managing archaeological digs and artifacts in the West Bank. The West Bank is considered to be occupied territory by Israel and is ruled by military law despite the fact that it has not been legally annexed.
Eliyahu said in a Facebook post on Sunday that “every heritage on both sides of the green line would gain complete protection, at an international and scientific level.” From the (Mediterranean) sea to the Jordan, he said, the state of Israel will “act in a uniform and professional way.”
Putting the Israel Antiquities Authority in charge of archaeology in the occupied region, according to Alon Arad, head of the Israeli non-governmental group Emek Shaveh, would be “activating Israeli law in the West Bank, which signifies annexation.”
Eliyahu’s administration repeatedly rebuffed requests for interviews.
The relic will stay at the ministry for the time being, according to Yassin, where one of its archaeologists will examine it. Then, he said, it will be shown in a museum on the West Bank.
Yassin answered, “It’s not the only one. “This is the start.”
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