Monitoring Desk
BETHLEHEM: An ivory spoon dating back 2,700 years that was recently repatriated to Palestine from the United States (US) has sparked a dispute with the new far-right government of Israel over the cultural heritage in the held West Bank territory.
The dispute highlights the political sensitivities surrounding archaeology in the Middle East region, where Israelis and Palestinians each use ancient artifacts to back their claims over the land.
The ultranationalist heritage minister of Israel ordered officials to probe the legality of the historic repatriation US government of the artifact to the Palestinians earlier this month. Israel is calling for annexing archaeology in the occupied West Bank.
American officials handed over an artifact to the Palestinian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry on January 5 in what the US State Department Office of Palestinian Affairs said was “the first occasion of such repatriation” by the United States (US) to the Palestinians.
Several artifacts already repatriated
Several of Steinhardt’s surrendered artifacts have already been repatriated to Turkiye, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Jordan, Israel, and Libya. This spoon was the only and first item to be repatriated to the Palestinians.
Those deals between Israel and the Palestinians were supposed to include coordination on various issues, including archaeology and cultural heritage.
But the agreements have primarily unraveled. Yassin said that the archaeology body has not met in nearly two decades and that there is virtually no coordination between Israel and the Palestinians concerning the prevention of antiquities theft in the West Bank.
“We are doing our best to protect these archaeological sites, but we face some difficulties,” he said.
