Sebastia, occupied West Bank – Israel calls it an archaeological project to highlight Jewish heritage and create a new Israeli national park. Palestinians see it as further evidence of Israel’s plans to annex an ancient town and erase Palestinian history in an area that tells the 5,000-year-old shared story of the peoples who have lived in this land.
Far-right, pro-settler Israeli government ministers were in Sebastia on May 12 as part of a delegation to mark the looming seizure of the town’s archaeological park, one of the largest and most important of 6,000 sites in the West Bank.
Ultranationalist Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu, himself a resident of an illegal West Bank settlement, hailed the beginning of Israeli excavation at the site and the coming creation of “Samaria National Park”, which will focus on the area’s Jewish history.
Palestinians say that will come along with an attempt to paint over their ties to the land. The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities called the excavations “preparation for Sebastia’s annexation and isolation from its surroundings”.
Israeli politicians refer to Sebastia as Samaria, or Shomron in Hebrew, and say it was the capital of the Biblical Kingdom of Israel nearly three millennia ago.
But the archaeological site includes the ruins of a Byzantine basilica, a Roman forum and amphitheatre, and the Crusader-era Church of St John, which was rebuilt into a mosque – and is believed to be the site of the tomb of John the Baptist, known in the Quran as Prophet Yahya.
Sebastia’s archaeological park, once a tourism hotspot and still a pilgrimage site for Christians, is being considered for inclusion on UNESCO’s world heritage list, subject to an application being finalised by Palestinian officials.
‘River of blood’
Sebastia mayor Mohammed Azim and town residents have long been warning of Israel’s intention to “Judaise” Sebastia and turn it into an Israeli-only tourism site.
Alarm intensified after the municipality received a land seizure order to construct an installation for “military purposes” at the summit of an ancient hilltop in the area last July.
Speaking to Al Jazeera in his office overlooking the increasingly deserted old town, Azim said a “river of blood will flow into the village” if construction of the barracks begins.
“The military is aiming to make life unbearable for the residents here, so they eventually surrender to reality and leave – just like those who have been displaced in Jenin and Tulkarem,” Azim said, referring to the more than 40,000 Palestinians displaced by Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank this year.
“Now, soldiers enter the village daily – and with the clear intention of killing,” Azim added. “We will resist construction – peacefully, of course. The landowners will not give up their land.”
The mayor called for condemnation of intensifying military violence in the village and the targeting of children, notably the army’s fatal shooting of 14-year-old Ahmad Jazar in January.
For its part, the Israeli state argues that the village of Sebastia will not be affected by the archaeological work, as it lies outside the boundaries of the proposed national park.
But Sebastia Archaeological Museum curator and lifelong resident, Walaa Ghazzal, says the plans are an escalation in Israel’s plans to eventually expel residents and business owners and prevent Palestinians from accessing the town, its ruins, and the sprawling hills and olive fields around it.
Ghazzal told Al Jazeera that “residents are afraid of the future”, especially those near the ruins.
“The situation is very dangerous,” she said. “Soon, they will prevent us from going to the archaeological site.
“In my opinion, we have only months before we are told to leave our homes,” Ghazzal added. “We are seeing the future in Gaza and in the camps [in the West Bank]. They are trying to erase us.”
‘Biblical heritage’
Israeli ministers and settler politicians are using rhetoric about protecting Jewish Biblical heritage to disguise their long-held desire to annex Sebastia, Azim said.
Eliyahu was joined in Sebastia by Minister of Environmental Protection Idit Silman and Yossi Dagan, chairman of the Shomron Regional Council, which controls 35 illegal West Bank settlements.
Silman has hailed the scheme and told Israeli media, “historical justice is being done”, accusing Palestinians of attempting to “erase” Jewish heritage.
The Israeli government has long been clear that Sebastia, which most historians agree was the capital of the Kingdom of Israel for less than 200 years, will be taken over and transformed into the centrepiece of Israeli tourism in the West Bank.
In May 2023, the Israeli government approved a 30 million shekel (more than $8m) scheme to restore the park and establish a tourism centre, new access roads, and an expanded military presence. The four million shekel ($1.2m) regeneration of a disused Hijaz railway station about two miles from Sebastia, last operational in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, has also been announced.
“The archeological excavations are designed to expose the antiquities of the site and make the ancient city accessible throughout all its periods: from the beginning of the settlement in the 8th century BCE during the ancient Kingdom of Israel, through the Hellenistic city, the magnificent Roman city built by King Herod [called “Sebastos” after Emperor Augustus], to the Byzantine period when a church was built at the site,” said the office of Israeli Minister of Heritage Eliyahu.
Erasing Palestinian identity
Ghazzal said Sebastia’s ruins exhibit a “distinct local culture” in a geographic region which has “always been known as Palestine”. She said the remains emphasise the religious and cultural importance of the town to conquering empires, and its multifaith inhabitants’ peaceful coexistence for centuries.
In the Palestinian submission to UNESCO, it is noted that the present town of Sebastia still preserves “the ancient name [and] is located on the eastern part of the Roman city, indicating a strong element of cultural continuity”.
But for those focused on the planned Israeli national park, it’s only Jewish history that matters.
Responding to a query from Al Jazeera, Eliyahu’s office said that Sebastia was “first and foremost a Jewish heritage site, where archaeological remains from the Kingdom of Israel period were found”.
“It is important to emphasise that even if we were to dig at the site to the depth of the Earth’s core, not even a grain of historical evidence of ancient Palestinian settlement would be found at the site,” Eliyahu’s office added.
Yossi Dagan, who lives in neighbouring Shavei Shomron, has long advocated for the takeover of Sebastia and emphasises its prominence in Biblical history. He told Israeli media at the archaeological site: “When you dig here, you touch the Bible with your own hands.”
But Ghazzal said that the Israeli government’s treatment of the Biblical stories in the Old Testament as historical reality is designed to relegate the claims of Palestinians to have lived on the land for thousands of years, and ignores the Palestinian people’s ancient ties to their land.
“You can’t base your claim to the land on religion – civilisations are about the people who develop their identity, their works and monuments – even their language,” Ghazzal said.
“Israel wants to kill the stories from our past and replace them with poison; it is a crime against our history,” Ghazzal added. “When they demolish our monuments, remove families who keep the history alive, who will speak after that – and carry our story for the next generation?”
Ghost town
Ahmad Kayed, a 59-year-old Sebastia villager and leading activist, told Al Jazeera the ruins will not be “taken without a fight”, and demonstrations are being instigated.
He said Israel is “planning something big” in Sebastia and referenced new iron blockades being erected on roads encircling the town.
It is already extremely unsafe for Sebastia residents to visit the archaeological park because of settler attacks and near-daily military invasions, he said. But once a military barracks is established, it will be permanently off limits.
“They are working step by step to get their hands on Sebastia and keep us suffering all the time so people will leave,” Kayed said, referring to the at least 40 families that have left the town since October 7, 2023.
“We are in the second Nakba and Sebastia is under siege,” he added. “But Sebastia is strong, we know how to face them because we have done it before.”
He pointed out that residents rose up to thwart Israel’s plans to take Sebastia in the late 1970s, and they did so again to halt settlers pumping sewage onto agricultural land in 2013. Two years later, residents’ protests and sit-ins blocked the construction of a new access road for settlers, which Eliyahu’s office justified as necessary for the “hundreds of thousands of Israelis who will want to come, learn, and experience the Jewish heritage” of Sebastia.
But Kayed admits times have changed, and violence from the military today is unlike anything he has experienced in his decades of activism.
“When we decide what to do, we will be smart, and we will demonstrate in new ways, and everyone in Sebastia will follow us,” he added.
He was also gravely concerned that if excavations took place, Israelis would desecrate archaeological findings that contradicted their claim to the land, with so much still to be uncovered if Palestinian-led digs were not blocked.
The municipality still hopes UNESCO will provide the village protection and add the ruins to its World Heritage list. The mayor also hopes the archaeological park will join 56 other locations on UNESCO’s register of significant sites considered to be “in danger”.
Businesses near the archaeological site say they have lost more than three-quarters of their custom since October 7.
Samer Sha’er, owner of a coffee shop directly next to the park and Sebastia’s imposing Roman columns, said a military outpost would be devastating for businesses.
“There will be daily confrontations, constant military presence, and no sense of security,” he said. “No one will want to come and sit here while the army is stationed nearby – neither shop owners nor visitors will be able to stay.”
Once holy land coveted by prophets and conquering emperors, Sebastia has been reduced to a ghost town – haunted by the glory of its history, which has also made it a target for annexation by the ultranationalist Israeli government.
Kayed looked visibly moved as he described his youth playing on the hills of the archaeological park, and a lifetime spent trying to save his home.
He was evidently aggrieved that the town had not acted more quickly to unify against the creeping threat of the military barracks or eventual annexation. But it seems all those concerned, including the town’s mayor, are not sure what is coming next – or when.
“This land means everything to me,” Kayed added. “I have spent all my childhood, all my life going to the park.
“They will confiscate my land [to build the barracks]. I planted olive trees there with my mother, it is very painful to lose them, Kayed said. “The village will never give up on the ruins – this is our history, our life. We will fight until the end.”
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