Israeli cultural watchdog Emek Shaveh denounced 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 specialising in cultural heritage rights said in a statement.
On November 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 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.
The site itself sits in Area C, the roughly 66 percent of the West Bank placed under Israeli administration after the Oslo Accords of the 1990s.
The adjacent village of Sebastia had developed a tourism industry around the site, which will be threatened by the new development plans which include a separate Israeli road, a fence around the site, and an entry fee.
Peace Now, another Israeli settlement watchdog, pointed out that the latest land seizure was the largest ever carried out for an archaeological purpose.
It added that land expropriations for antiquities development have occurred five times since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.
"In all cases, the expropriations were formally defined as serving a public purpose, but in practice, they led to the exclusion of Palestinians from the sites," Peace Now said in a statement.
It said the plan for Sebastia would be no different, mostly easing access for Israelis while cutting access for local Palestinians.
