>Neil Silberman, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the coordinator of Projects and Policy Initiatives at the Center for Heritage and Society, has written a very critical post on the decision of the Israeli government to include the Cave of Machpelah to the list of Israel’s Heritage Sites.
Since many Christians welcomed the decision of the Israeli government, it is just fair that they should also read Silberman’s view opposing the decision. The following is an excerpt from his post:
There is a point where the manipulation of heritage becomes so blatant, so transparent a cover for territorial acquisition, for population removal, and for private commercial gain, that even some of the most fervent flag-wavers and Bible-belters have to take pause.
In the last weeks we have witnessed a series of gratuitously aggressive public demonstrations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration of the establishment of a “heritage list” of sites connected with Jewish and Zionist history in both pre-1967 Israel and the West Bank not only offered no specifics that could actually help the Israel Antiquities Authority keep up with the enormous volume of development-related archaeological salvage projects throughout the country, but was pitifully primitive in its goal of instilling a ‘proper’ appreciation of history among the younger generations of Israelis– through the installation of informational signboards and the establishment of hiking trails.
Worse yet, the announcement– for all its emptiness of value and content– succeeded in providing an occasion for violence both in the tinderbox of Hebron (ironically on the eve of the 16th anniversary of the terrorist attack by settler icon Baruch Goldstein that killed 29 and wounded more than a hundred Muslim worshippers in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, one of the sites added to the new Israeli “Heritage List”) and throughout the West Bank.
When will the advocates of strong-armed tactics and arrogant nationalism see that it just doesn’t work?
Read Professor Silberman’s post by clicking here.
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Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Cave of Machpelah, Heritage Sites, Neil Silberman
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Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 
>My post should not be considered opposition to CONSIDERING the Cave of Machpelah a heritage site, which it obviously is for Jews, Christians, and Muslims– and for those concerned with heritage all over the world.My opposition is, instead, directing to strictly bureaucratic (and to my mind unnecessarily provocative) political actions and announcements. They do nothing but inspire radicalism on all sides and provide a pretext for those who seek to foment violence.The Cave of the Machpelah is a venerable, complex monument. I believe that the recent declaration by the Israeli Prime Minister does absolutely ZERO to preserve it or to increase anyone's appreciation of its significance.Lists are good for press releases and the Guiness Book of World Records– not sacred heritage.
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