Ahead of the elections, Israel speeds West Bank land seizures through archaeology
Noa Shpigel and and Nir Hasson report in Haaretz on 2 September 2026:
In recent months, the government has accelerated its takeover of West Bank land, including in Area B, through the Civil Administration unit responsible for archaeological sites. Its declared goal is to establish facts on the ground before the election.
Until a few years ago, the Staff Officer for Archaeology (known by its Hebrew acronym Kamat) was a small Civil Administration unit responsible for overseeing archaeological sites and conducting salvage excavations intended to ensure that areas designated for development did not contain significant archaeological finds.
In 2019, the unit had 10 employees and a budget of about 14 million shekels (around $4.6 million). Since then, however, settlers have taken a growing interest in archaeology. At the same time, they have come to recognize that archaeological sites can be used to seize land and push out Palestinian residents.
These developments led to far-reaching changes in the unit. Funding began pouring in, and the Staff Officer for Archaeology was transformed from a body that responded to requests, such as complaints about damage to archaeological sites and applications from contractors or the Civil Administration for salvage excavations, into a proactive agency and the Heritage Ministry’s executive arm in the West Bank.
Today, the unit has about 60 employees and a budget of approximately 124 million shekels (around $41 million), an increase of almost 800 percent in seven years.
Projects recently advanced by the Staff Officer for Archaeology include renovating the roof at the archaeological site in Susya in the southern Hebron Hills and excavating the Hyrcania site in the Judean Desert.
Last week, 19 Sri Lankan citizens arrived in Israel to work on Civil Administration archaeological excavations in the West Bank. The Staff Officer for Archaeology decided to bring them in because West Bank settlements do not permit Palestinians to work within their boundaries. Employing the Sri Lankan workers costs significantly more than employing the Palestinian laborers who worked on the excavations until recently.
About a month ago, the Heritage Ministry boasted on the pro-government Channel 14 that it was transferring 113 million shekels for development and accessibility projects at 70 sites in the West Bank.
A source familiar with the details said the funding, which is earmarked for a five-year period, has not yet been transferred. However, according to The Budget Key, a website that compiles data on Israel’s state budget and government spending, two budget transfers for this purpose were made in July to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories: one for 35.5 million shekels and another for 64 million shekels.
Work is currently underway at 10 of the 70 sites. Some of the projects advanced by the Heritage Ministry are not archaeological initiatives, including the construction of an amphitheater. According to the source, however, the Staff Officer for Archaeology serves as the executive arm of both the Heritage Ministry and the regional councils.
A day before the Channel 14 report, the Arutz Sheva website published an interview with Heritage Ministry Director General Itay Granek. He said a government steering committee had approved further progress on the “Derech Eretz Moreshet” master plan, under which about half a billion shekels would be invested in preserving, developing and making West Bank antiquity sites accessible, as well as combating antiquities theft and the academic boycott.
Granek discussed plans to establish a national park in Sebastia, carry out preservation work at Herod’s Pool near the Herodion at a cost of about 3 million shekels, and invest 10 million shekels in Solomon’s Pools.
If a new government comes to power, Granek said, its priorities could change. For that reason, “we are now working with all our might to establish as many facts on the ground as possible and preserve the immense heritage of Judea and Samaria for future generations.”
The Heritage Ministry did not answer Haaretz’s question about whether the funding for Solomon’s Pools would be transferred through the Staff Officer for Archaeology or allocated directly from the state budget.
Alongside the expansion of the Staff Officer for Archaeology’s activities, a bill to establish a new antiquities authority in the West Bank reached its final stages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked it in June, however, before it could be brought to its second and third votes.
The bill originally sought to extend the Israel Antiquities Authority’s powers to the West Bank. It passed a preliminary vote in the Knesset, but the Israel Antiquities Authority subsequently opposed it, citing concerns that it could harm international cooperation and academic research. The professional staff of the Knesset Education Committee, which debated the legislation, also objected. The bill was consequently amended to provide for the establishment of a new and separate authority.
Under the version that passed its first vote, the new authority would assume the powers of the Staff Officer for Archaeology and include a public council appointed by the heritage minister. With the council’s approval, it would also be authorized to transfer its powers at a particular site to a local authority or corporation.
MK Amit Halevi (Likud), who introduced the bill, also sought, together with Knesset Education Committee Chairman Tzvi Succot (Religious Zionism), to include the Gaza Strip under the new authority, contrary to the Defense Ministry’s position. The Defense Ministry warned that the proposal raised legal difficulties because it would create a precedent in which an Israeli corporation exercised governmental powers in the West Bank. It also argued that applying the law to Gaza could be viewed as de facto annexation, in violation of the Trump plan.
In May, the government also decided to allocate about a quarter of a billion shekels for projects involving the rescue, preservation, development and accessibility of heritage and antiquity sites in the West Bank. The new authority was also supposed to be established using this funding.
Measured solely by the amount it receives from the state budget, the Staff Officer for Archaeology now manages a larger budget than the Israel Antiquities Authority. The Israel Antiquities Authority is responsible for archaeology within Israel, conducts extensive salvage excavations, manages the national archaeological collection and employs dozens of archaeologists and hundreds of other workers. It received 57 million shekels from the government in 2026.
However, the authority also receives donations and income from projects it conducts for contractors and public bodies, bringing its total budget to 428 million shekels.
Projects recently advanced by the Staff Officer for Archaeology include renovating the roof at the archaeological site in Susya in the southern Hebron Hills, excavating the Hyrcania site in the Judean Desert, building an amphitheater at Tel Shiloh, establishing visitor centers, conducting community excavations and carrying out preservation work.
To mark a project to open a new road to Sartaba, near Jericho, the Heritage Ministry staged a torch-lighting ceremony featuring a Channel 14 host and performers. “Sartaba is not just a mountain. It is a symbol of Jewish and Israeli continuity, stretching from the torches and light of generations past to the Israeli spirit of today,” Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu said. Another flagship project of the Staff Officer for Archaeology is “Derech Eretz Moreshet,” which is intended to make 150 archaeological sites in the West Bank accessible to the public.
The current plans involve sites in Area C, which is under full Israeli control. The Heritage Ministry and the Staff Officer for Archaeology have also prepared plans for a preservation project at Mount Ebal, a site that settlers consider to be “Joshua’s Altar,” in Areas A and B.
At a ceremony last May marking the installation of a Hebrew sign at the site, Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Strock said: “When Joshua built the altar here, he did not ask whether this was Area A, B or C. He knew this was the Land of Israel, and he knew that God had commanded him to inherit it and bequeath it. That commandment and that promise still apply today, and we must fulfill them in our generation.”
Following a decision by the chief of the IDF’s Central Command, the Staff Officer for Archaeology was also granted enforcement powers in Area B. It subsequently began confiscating engineering equipment from Palestinians who, according to the unit’s personnel, had damaged archaeological sites there.
Another site in Area B that has attracted considerable interest from the Heritage Ministry is Solomon’s Pools, near Bethlehem. Settlers recently began touring the area, and Heritage Minister Eliyahu took part in one of the tours.
According to the source, the transformation in the Staff Officer for Archaeology’s status and power began even before Eliyahu became heritage minister. The process accelerated considerably during his tenure, under the auspices of the transfer of authority over the Civil Administration to Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Although the Staff Officer for Archaeology has become a large and influential body, its authority appears to evaporate when it comes into conflict with settler interests. In June, for example, settlers illegally diverted water used by Palestinian farmers in the Jordan Valley to fill an ancient reservoir near the settlement of Petza’el.
Beyond the theft of water, the act clearly damaged an antiquities site and should have prompted an investigation and prosecution by the Staff Officer for Archaeology. The unit initially responded forcefully, removing the trespassers and fencing off the site. The fence was breached shortly afterward, however, and Eliyahu visited the site and was photographed jumping into the pool. Smotrich even announced that he would allocate funding to renovate the pool and make it accessible.
Archaeologist Alon Arad of Emek Shaveh, an organization that works on archaeology and heritage rights, told Haaretz: “Over the past three years, the Staff Officer for Archaeology has become an executive arm for annexation and the seizure of land on behalf of the settlers.”
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