>Neil Asher Silberman wrote an article evaluating the “Israeli-Palestinian Cultural Heritage Agreement” that was established between Israeli and Palestinian archaeologists. The purpose of the agreement is to develop a way for both Israelis and Palestinians to resolve conflicts over archaeological sites and artifacts once Israel and the Palestinians agree on the issue of the two states.

Although the agreement is an attempt at protecting the fragile archaeological legacy buried below ancient ruins, Silberman believes that, unless there is an effort to change how Israelis and Palestinians view the role of archaeology, the agreement will fail.

Silberman wrote:

Indeed the very concept of “heritage” is almost necessarily exclusionary, delimiting “our” heritage from “theirs.” Israelis tend to see stones, pots and ancient coins as materialized illustrations of a meaningful national narrative that runs from the beginnings of Jewish history to the rise of the State of Israel. For Palestinians, the narrative is one of dispossession, in which archaeological artifacts and sites are not seen as symbols but as alienated possessions, as real and movable property, whose ultimate significance lies in their physical return.

Neat archaeological partition will not work, and compromise arrangements will not further the cause of peace, so long as we refuse to recognize that it is not passionate archaeology that causes the present conflict, but, rather, that it is the other way around.

I believe Silberman is right. The idea of bestowing “exclusive possession of cultural property” has merits but it can create a potential for destruction of vital archaeological information. I just wonder what the Palestinians would do if they found an inscription that said “David slept here.” Would they share that inscription with the world?

I hope the agreement works and that it does not lead to further animosity between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Israel, Palestinians