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Israel stops illegal Arab construction destroying Hasmonean archaeological site

This is not the first time that archeological sites have been illegally tampered with in Judea and Samaria.

By Aaron S.,World Israel News 

Israel Civil Administration officials have prevented the destruction of an archaeological site near Jericho that dates back to the Hasmonean period, reports The Jerusalem Post.

According to the report, Civil Administration officials discovered illegal construction taking place at an archaeology site that once housed Hasmonean palaces of the descendants of Mattathias ben Johanan, the famed high priest who led the Maccabees in overthrowing the Greek emperor Antiochus over 2,000 years ago.

“The archaeology unit works tirelessly to develop and preserve the archaeological sites [in the West Bank] and cannot be damaged,” the head of  the Civil Administration Archaeology Unit said in a press release as quoted by the Jerusalem Post.

This is not the first time that archaeological sites have been illegally tampered with in Judea and Samaria.

In April, hikers discovered a burial tomb from the Second Temple era near Jericho that had been exposed in the course of illegal landscaping work

Local Arab farmers used tractors to plow the site to prepare the soil for agricultural work.

The hikers who came across the site were horrified to see human remains littered everywhere on the freshly plowed soil, and catacombs that were completely ransacked and looted.

Almost all of the ancient burial caves that lay on the outskirts of Jericho date back thousands of years to the Hasmoneans and the Second Jewish Temple.

Israel’s Antiquities Law forbids any action that is likely to damage antiquities, such as dismantling stones, building on top of antiquities or farming on ancient sites.