JERUSALEM: Israeli cultural watchdog Emek Shaveh denounced on Monday a decision to expropriate nearly 500 acres of private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank near the ancient archaeological site of Sebastia.
“Residents reported that the expropriation will severely restrict access to agricultural lands and could lead to the loss of roughly 3,000 olive trees, some of them centuries old,” the watchdog specializing in cultural heritage rights said in a statement.
On Nov. 12, the Israeli body that runs civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, COGAT, published a notice of intent for the expropriation of several plots, mostly belonging to the Palestinian village of Sebastia.
The stated purpose of the expropriation is the “preservation and development of the site.”
Sebastia is an archaeological site dating back to the Iron Age, which Israel began taking an interest in in 2023, first with a plan for the site itself, and then the seizure of the top of the mound that constitutes the site, Emek Shaveh said.
