archeology

Construction in the city of Lod, central Israel, July 13, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

In the name of ‘urban renewal,’ Israel is trampling Lod’s 2,000-year-old heritage

The municipality is encouraging real estate sharks to tear up the city’s history in order to build towers that will likely drive out Palestinian residents.

By Tawfiq Da'adli December 22, 2025

Graffiti sprayed on ancient archeological artifacts, in Sebastia, near the West Bank city of Nablus, May 12, 2025. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Israel preparing largest ever act of ‘archeological cleansing’ in West Bank

Subordinating scientific value to colonial expansion, Israeli archeologists are putting up no resistance as the state moves to expropriate swaths of Sebastia.

By Alon Arad December 11, 2025

The Hureini family's guesthouse in the village of At-Tuwani, Masafer Yatta, October 15, 2025. (Omri Eran-Vardi)

Israel is set to destroy our guesthouse. But Masafer Yatta still welcomes all who resist

My family has hosted hundreds of activists, journalists, and politicians in At-Tuwani. If this demolition proceeds, half of our West Bank village may be next.

By Mohammad Hureini November 25, 2025

Latest

Rafi Greenberg, Tel Aviv, June 2024. (Oren Ziv)

‘It comes with the territory’: How Israel’s archaeologists legitimize annexation

Weaponizing antiquities is part of Israel's colonial legacy, says Rafi Greenberg, whose colleagues have largely remained silent about Gaza's destruction.

By Dikla Taylor-Sheinman July 1, 2025

Yochai Damri, head of the Mount Hebron Regional Council, and Home Front Maj. Gen. Uri Gordin, visit the remains of the ancient Jewish village of Susiya, where a Palestinian village of the same name now exists, in the southern occupied West Bank, December 15, 2021. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

Annexation in the name of archeology

Armed with huge budgets, far-right Israeli ministers are pushing ahead with plans to displace Palestinians under the guise of safeguarding heritage sites.

By Alon Arad and Talya Ezrahi August 1, 2023

Israel Antiquities Authority workers dig at the site of archaeological excavations as part of the plan to build an elevator to the Western Wall, at the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City, November 9, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

After backlash, conference drops Israeli archeologist for settlement university ties

Archeologists criticized the participation of two Ariel University scholars at the international event, citing illegality of excavations on occupied territory.

By Oren Ziv May 28, 2023

Christian pilgrims take part in the traditional Palm Sunday procession on the Mount of Olives, occupied East Jerusalem, March 28, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The new national park threatening Jerusalem’s Christian community

Concerns are building that Israel's new government will revive controversial plans to take over Palestinian- and church-owned land on the Mount of Olives.

By Judith Sudilovsky January 23, 2023

Israeli authorities demolish a tent in the West Bank area of Masafer, near the city of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills, on November 25, 2020. (Wissam Hashlamon/Flash90)

This Israeli forbids Palestinians from building. He lives in an illegal outpost

Meet the inspector who prevents Palestinians in Masafer Yatta from building on their land while living in a home Israel says was built illegally.

By Yuval Abraham July 28, 2022

The Givati Parking Lot excavation grounds next to the City of David National Park in the Palestinian village of Silwan, across the street from the Old City walls surrounding the Al Aqsa mosque compound, July 14, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

PODCAST: Excavating Israel’s underground settlements

On the latest episode, Israeli archeologist Yonathan Mizrahi talks about Israel's weaponization of archeology to expand Jewish settlement.

By Natasha Soffer-Roth January 20, 2022

Workers at the City of David archaeological site, near Jerusalem's Old City, on July 22, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

In East Jerusalem, the settler project is expanding underground

Elad's politicization of archaeology, most notably through the City of David park in East Jerusalem, erases Palestinians and their history.

By Natasha Soffer-Roth October 23, 2020

Palestinian workers working on the newly-installed flagpole at the public plaza of the town of Sebastia, West Bank, August 24, 2020. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills)

Israeli army orders removal of Palestinian flagpole for ‘security reasons’

Residents of the West Bank village of Sebastia say the military order was the result of pressure by Israeli settlers who visit its famed archeological site.

By Ahmad Al-Bazz and Activestills August 26, 2020

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman (left) with White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt (center) and Senator Lindsey Graham seen during the opening ceremony of an the Pilgrimage Road at the City of David archaeological site in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, June 30, 2019. (Flash90)

Using archeology in the service of nationalism

The inauguration of a supposed ancient Jewish ‘Pilgrimage Road’ by Ambassador David Friedman and White House envoy Jason Greenblatt is a reminder that archeology is never as neutral as some would like to believe. By Chemi Shiff and Yonathan Mizrachi We tend to think of archeology as a neutral discipline. Archeologists dig up artifacts, date them, and try to build…

By +972 Magazine July 5, 2019

Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in ‘The Pilgrims’ tunnel under East Jerusalem, December 26, 2016. (Regev’s Facebook)

A tunnel in the service of nationalism

Israeli politicians use problematic archeological findings to drum up support for exclusionary nationalist narratives under East Jerusalem. By Yonathan Mizrahi “I didn’t think I would be so excited,” said Culture Minister Miri Regev. “Mr. President Obama, I am standing here on the path that my forefathers walked 2,000 years ago. There is not another nation…

By Haokets January 4, 2017