Sacrificing the Altar Itself

Adapted by Hillel Fendel

A B'sheva newspaper investigation by Yoni Rotenberg shows how the Palestinian Authority is seeking to destroy Jewish history in the Shomron (Samaria)

Israel underwent something of a national trauma earlier this month, when it was discovered that one of the oldest Biblical Jewish sites in the country had been purposely destroyed by Palestinian Authority bodies. And then, to pour salt on the wounds, while some government officials condemned the destruction, Defense Minister Benny Gantz excused it as just "human error."

The original report of the destruction arrived two weeks ago. Channel 12 reporter Lia Spilkin provided viewers with a short video obtained by the organization "Preserving the Eternal." The clip shows heavy machinery grinding large boulders into gravel, with an Arab narrator boasting, "Here we see bulldozers taking apart the stones of what the Jews call Joshua's Altar and turning them into gravel for a road that we are paving here."

A drone sent to the air by the organization revealed the sorry situation: Tens of meters of a wall surrounding the site were totally razed for the sake of a new PA road about to be paved just behind it.

The report aroused a public storm in Israel, with even President Ruby Rivlin and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu weighing in heavily against the purposeful vandalism. Netanyahu promised to provide security for the site and to apprehend those responsible for the destruction. The head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Tzvi Hauser, sought to bring his entire committee on a fact-finding trip to the site – but Defense Minister Gantz turned him down, saying there was no justification for the heavy security costs that would be incurred.

It must be noted that the site of the altar is in Area B, i.e., under PA administrative control and Israeli security control. Gantz informed Hauser that the site itself was not harmed, and that the contractor acted on his own and contrary to the instructions he had received.

In other words, according to Gantz, this was not a purposeful PA attempt to destroy Jewish history at the site. This position flies in the face of the facts and the last few years of PA activity at the site. 

For one thing, a sharp protest letter signed by 50 senior archaeologists was sent to Gantz, saying that the wall in question is older than 3,000 years old and that the damage it suffered is irreversible. But to say that there was no political malice involved is simply not accurate. Over the past five years, the PA and other elements have engaged in systematic activity to take over the area of and around the altar, to distance Israelis from the site, and to erase the Jewish story behind the site.

It must be noted that the site was discovered by archaeologist Prof. Adam Zertal of Tel Aviv University in 1980. Over the course of nine years of excavations, he came to the conclusion, based on his findings and the writings of the Torah and Talmud, that this was precisely the structure built by Joshua bin Nun on the day the Israelites entered the Holy Land for the first time. See this article for more details.

Keep in mind that an appendix to the Oslo Accords requires the PA to safeguard Jewish cultural sites in the territory under its control, prevent any damage to them, and cooperate in allowing Israelis to visit at set times.

However, this last clause began making some PA elements uncomfortable, and they began to complain about Jewish visitors to the site. In 2016, Nasser Jawabra, the then-mayor of the nearby Arab village Asira al-Shamilya, was quoted in the Saudi "Al-Watan" newspaper as saying, "This area is of great strategic importance, separating between [refugee camp] Askar and Asira al-Shamilya, and overlooking Shechem. This is why the settlers had their eye on it, so that they could fulfill their aspirations to take control of the land, using religious claims about a supposed altar of Joshua Bin-Nun."

After two years of quiet, in 2018, then-Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel announced support for the paving of a new road that would, for the first time, enable Jewish visitors to the area to travel safely and comfortably. This aroused the ire of the local Arabs, who again claimed that the Jews were trying to "take over." The residents of Asira, and outside supporters, began a new practice of harassing the Jewish tour groups, and started holding their own political-religious rallies there, replete with PA flags. The climax came in December 2018 when Fatah activists and their allies from various BDS organizations planted saplings at the site – in the presence of none other than the PA minister for [Jewish] settlement affairs, Walid As'af. 

These events were highlighted by PA officials' remarks in favor of erasing Jewish history from the area. The above-quoted Jawabra said that the entire "altar story" was no more than a conspiracy for the purpose of Jewish conquest: "The occupation [i.e, Israel – ed.] claims this area of what it says is the altar, in an attempt to justify its control here and to turn it into a fulcrum for its hold on Mount Eval." 

The newspaper also cited the official stance of the PA's Office of Tourism and Ancient Artifacts on the topic. Surprise! (not) – it holds that the story of the Altar of Yehoshua Bin-Nun is nothing more than a myth, and certainly not history.

This approach of history-denial is a central element in the PA's efforts against Israel. The PA's official "National Council for Education, Culture and Science" states on its website that it "condemns the repeated Zionist campaigns directed against archaeological sites in Palestine," among which it specifically notes what it calls "Bornat," the site of the altar, on Mount Eval. The head of the Council is quoted not only as directly denying the existence of an altar built by Yehoshua Bin-Nun, but also adds that Israel seeks to "rule over the Palestinian legacy and artifacts." 

"Protecting the Eternal" has received official development maps of the town of Asira, showing various archaeological sites in the area – pointedly leaving out the site of Joshua's Altar. If you ignore Jewish history, the Arab strategy goes, it won't exist. 

The Very Basis of All

It is important to remember what Shomron Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said last year when Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria – but not Joshua's Altar! – was being considered: "This altar is one of the most important archaeological findings in the State of Israel. The basis for our hold in the Land is places like Mount Eval, Mount Gerizim, Shilo, the Machpelah Cave; everything stems from these sites. Joshua's Altar is practically the only testament we have to the Nation of Israel's entry into its land. The State of Israel cannot afford to give it up, and certainly not to transfer it to an enemy."

Apparently learning from our Tu B'Shvat tree-planting events – a tradition of hundreds of years marking the Jewish People's eternal ties to the Promised Land – the PA sponsored several of their own plantings in the Mount Eval area in early 2019. This past December, it held a very large planting that was partially dedicated to the "glorious intifada" that began 33 years ago. The objective of the tree plantings, as laid out by the PA's newly-formed "Committee for the Preservation of Cultural Sites," is to set out facts on the ground and mark off territory of PA control. 

Another important milestone in the PA's propaganda campaign against Israeli history occurred in September. The governor of Shechem, Ibrahim Ramadan, conducted an official visit to the site, together with a delegation of the PA's Tourism and Artifacts Office, as well as the mayor and engineers of the town of Asira al-Shamilya. Ramadan warned that the site is "under the threat of the Israeli settlers." 

The PA press reported that the objective of the tour was to plan a "Palestinian culture site" on Mount Eval. Mayor Yassin told a reporter there that since this was Area B, under PA administrative control, he felt to need to "either confirm or deny claims about our plans to further develop this site… The Jews have taken ownership over it with no proof that it is a Jewish site."

Furthermore: Two local leaders called upon Arab residents to take part in a campaign to register plots in the area under their own names in the PA tabu [land registry] records , "in order to strengthen our hold on the area."

As of now, the PA is planning to continue paving a two-kilometer road adjacent to and around the site of the Altar, as well as rehabilitate 15 acres of agricultural land there. The works are well underway and have not been stopped, and their sad consequences are now known to all. 

Israel's political echelons can and must consider how to correctly and appropriately respond to the ongoing propaganda campaign against historic Jewish sites in Judea and Samaria. But certainly after the publication of the above facts, pretending that the problem is simply a matter of human error, and not part of a consistent, focused Palestinian Authority policy, is no longer an option.