MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
An ancient historical site stretching to the time of the Bible is at the center of a new battle for land in the occupied West Bank. Israel is seizing the area to turn it into a tourist site aimed at Jewish settlers. It's the largest ever Israeli expropriation of archaeological ruins in the West Bank. Palestinians say it's a step toward Israeli annexation. NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi sends this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS CRUNCHING)
AHMED KAYED: Look at these trees - how old are they.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: The air is crisp at the ancient hilltop site of Sebastia in the central West Bank. There are the ruins of colonnaded streets, a Roman theater, Byzantine churches and dilapidated city walls made of white rock. Palestinian Ahmed Kayed has been a tour guide here for almost a decade, and the historical remains he points to stretch back to the time of the Canaanites.
KAYED: You will find in Sebastia many types of ruins from different periods - even from the Canaani (ph) Iron Age, Greek time and also Roman time, Byzantian.
AL-SHALCHI: The 60-year-old breathes heavily as he walks up the hill. He sits on a stone stump - the remains of a column in what used to be the church of John the Baptist.
KAYED: This (ph) believe that he was killed here and/or his head was covered here somewhere.
AL-SHALCHI: Sebastia was originally called Samaria. It was the capital of the northern kingdom of ancient Israel 3,000 years ago and was later rebuilt by King Herod of Judea - which was then under Roman control - as the city of Sebaste. At the top of the ancient site, the views are stunning - rolling hills dotted with olive trees and Jewish settlements on every side. A few minutes down the hill from the archaeological site is the village of Sebastia, home to about 4,000 Palestinians. Young boys wearing tracksuits shout and race each other on bikes through the winding streets.
Palestinians see Sebastia as part of their heritage and used to come here as tourists. But Mayor Mohamed Azzem says Sebastia was a destination for all.
MOHAMED AZZEM: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "Whether they're Christian, Jewish or Muslim, Sebastia has been open to every visitor," Azzem says. But it's all at risk now. Last month, the Israeli government ordered the expropriation of the archaeological site and hundreds of acres of land around it that belongs to Palestinians. It will also sever the village of Sebastia from the archaeological site. Residents had 14 days to object the order, but Mayor Azzem says there has been no response yet.
AZZEM: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "Families will be forced to shut their stores, which will contribute to unemployment in Sebastia," Azzem says.
The Israeli government says it needs to take over the site because it has been neglected and there have been too many cases of archaeological theft. Talya Ezrahi is with Emek Shaveh, a progressive Israeli group that defends cultural heritage rights in Israel. She says according to the official division of responsibility in the West Bank, it's Israeli authorities who are responsible for the site.
TALYA EZRAHI: The site itself is under Israeli both security and civilian control, which means that had they wanted to, the staff officer for archaeology could have allocated resources, personnel in order to oversee that the site was well taken care of, to keep away looters and so forth.
AL-SHALCHI: The Palestinian Authority calls these orders land grabs, seeking to undermine a future two-state solution and to further Jewish settlers' ambitions to annex the West Bank. One of the leaders of the settler movement in Israel is the far-right nationalist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself. His community believes that Jews have a God-given right to the land in the West Bank - the land of the Bible, which they call Judea and Samaria.
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BEZALEL SMOTRICH: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "Annexation implies taking something that isn't yours," Smotrich told NPR earlier this year. "Judea and Samaria belongs to us." Ezrahi says her group disputes the conflation that a cultural affinity to a site means exclusive sovereignty over it.
One man who is slated to lose his home is farmer Nihad Abu Abbadi.
NIHAD ABU ABBADI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: Abu Abbadi sits in his living room and pulls out his phone, opening a map of Sebastia. There's a red circle in the middle, signifying the land the government plans to seize. He zooms in. His house is just inside the red.
ABU ABBADI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: Abu Abbadi says he's appealed the demolition order of his house, but there's been no response yet from Israeli authorities. Outside the entrance of his home is the view of sweeping olive groves his family has owned for generations and that he says have been seized by Israel.
ABU ABBADI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "The Israelis believe they have a claim to the land - well, fine," Abu Abbadi says. "But let us also live on the land we own."
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Sebastia. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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