7 April 2025
Properly regulated, archaeology contributes enormously to our understanding of the past, but in rogue states such as Israel it is frequently used to obscure the truth about past civilisations and prop up falsehoods to justify their presence on the land. Thus complicit archaeologists ignore inconvenient layers of evidence and even destroy them in order to highlight the layers and their artifacts that “prove” their contrived version of history. Accordingly, who carries out the excavations and for what purpose are critically important issues in contested areas such as Israel-Palestine. Recently, the Israeli Ministry of Heritage announced plans for the annual Archaeological Congress to be held in the Occupied West Bank, no doubt intending it to highlight the evidence of Jewish heritage in the region. However, the plans were suspended when Raphael Greenberg [pictured], Professor of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and chairman of Emek Shaveh, the Israeli NGO which seeks to prevent the politicisation of archaeology in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, raised fundamental objections to the conference in an open letter to intending participants. Rather than allow Professor Greenberg to attend and air these objections, the Ministry hastily cancelled the conference.
Reprinted below is (1) Professor Greenberg’s open letter and (2) a further letter from Emek Shaveh explaining the situation.
(1) February 9, 2025
Open Letter to my Academic Colleagues Participating in “The First International Conference on Archaeology and Site Conservation of Judea and Samaria”
Last weekend, I found a full-page ad in the Haaretz newspaper informing the public of an impending four-day conference on Israeli archaeology in the occupied West Bank, in the upscale Dan hotel in East Jerusalem. The opening ceremony of the conference – the largest archaeological conference conducted in Israel in recent memory – features unspecified public speakers and keynote speeches by scholars from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Cornell University. The academic sessions include papers delivered by members of every research university in Israel (the Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, the University of Haifa and Ben Gurion University), as well as speakers from Italy, Malta, Australia and the United States.
Funded generously by the Ministry of Heritage and the outgoing minister Amihai Eliyahu (of the racist and homophobic Jewish Power party) and sponsored by the “Civil Administration” of Judea and Samaria (the Occupied West Bank), the University in the settlement of Ariel, Bar-Ilan University and other Israeli organizations, this conference serves no urgent professional purpose (for example, mitigating the terrible loss of heritage incurred in the ongoing war in and around Gaza and in the West Bank), nor has it been convened as an academic conference, with the typical call for papers and registration process. Rather, it is a showcase for the work of settler-adjacent archaeologists and their collaborators, timed to coincide with a political push in the Israeli parliament for the archaeological annexation of large parts of the West Bank and with the promotion, by settlers in Israel and their supporters in the U.S., of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.
I confess that I am appalled and disheartened by your participation. You are no doubt aware of the dubious ethics of much of the archaeological work in the occupied territories and East Jerusalem and its contravention of the Hague convention and protocol (1954) and the New Delhi recommendations (1956), both signed by Israel. These stipulate that only the most necessary measures for the safeguarding of archaeological sites may be conducted by the occupying power and forbid the removal of cultural artifacts from the occupied territories (unless there is an urgent need due to combat risks). They certainly do not permit academics to exploit the region’s antiquities to satisfy their curiosity or further their careers. You must also be aware that Israel and the settlers whom you have joined have weaponized archaeology in Jerusalem and the West Bank, using as a lever to dispossess Palestinians and enlarge the settler footprint. You must also have seen the program of the conference, which includes no Palestinian participants, thus highlighting the wedge being driven between Palestinians and their archaeological heritage.
None of this deterred you from taking part in the conference. Neither were those of you who live overseas reluctant to put your thumb on the political scale in what is a hotly contested internal issue in Israel – the collaboration with the extreme right-wing government that has wrought catastrophe upon catastrophe and shredded the very fabric of our democracy.
Perhaps you have been told that the conference has no political content. Well, that is at best disingenuous and at worst mendacious. To paraphrase W.G. Sebald, when morally compromised scholars claim that the field of science is a value-free area, it should make us stop and think. If the true interest of the organizers was the salvage and safeguarding of sites, they would have been better served by a low-key professional meeting of those who can actually contribute to such a cause.
At a time when most legitimate archaeological work in Israel has been curtailed by the catastrophes of the past year; at a time when Israeli archaeologists are subject to impending formal and informal boycotts; at a time when members of the extreme right-wing parties and organization threaten to renew extensive hostilities and the wholesale destruction of Palestinian homes, educational institutions and heritage; at such a time, when what we need is hope and a path to a shared future in this land, joining forces with the settlers in a show of force in East Jerusalem only takes our archaeology farther down the road of exclusionary, self-congratulatory isolation.
I hope you take these words to heart.
Raphael Greenberg, Professor of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, and Chairman of the Board, Emek Shaveh
(2) April 4, 2025
Dear friends,
In an unprecedented move, the organisers of Israel’s premier professional event in archaeology – the Archaeological Congress – announced the cancellation of the conference, due to begin yesterday, following political pressure by the far-right Minister of Heritage, Amihai Eliyahu (Jewish Power party).
Held annually for nearly five decades, the Archaeological Congress is the largest and most significant gathering of archaeologists in Israel. It brings together hundreds of researchers, students, and heritage professionals from across the country to present new findings, debate current issues, and promote collaboration across institutions. This year the congress was to be held at the Israel Antiquities Authority’s new campus in Jerusalem.
The Minister had demanded that Professor Raphael (Rafi) Greenberg, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University and Chair of Emek Shaveh’s Board of Directors, be barred from participating due to an open letter he penned in February criticising the “First International Conference on Archaeology and Site Conservation of Judea and Samaria.” In response to this unprecedented attempt to interfere with the academic and professional content of the Congress, organisers made the decision to cancel the entire event.
Emek Shaveh: We regret, the cancellation of the congress, but extreme actions require clear and courageous responses. This is a principled struggle for academic freedom and respect for both international and domestic law. We cannot allow political pressure to dictate scholarly discourse or professional participation. The academia must remain a space free of coercion. We commend the archaeological community for standing up for the independence of scientific archaeology and of academia as a whole.
Background
The controversy stems from a February conference co-hosted by the Civil Administration’s Staff Officer for Archaeology and the Ministry of Heritage, which focused on archaeological activity in the West Bank. The event, was attended by Israeli and international scholars. In his open letter, Professor Greenberg described the gathering as “a showcase for the work of settler-adjacent archaeologists and their collaborators,” coinciding with political efforts to advance annexation of the West Bank through cultural heritage policy.
Greenberg also highlighted the absence of Palestinian voices and the use of archaeology as a tool of dispossession in the region. “You must also be aware,” he wrote, “that Israel and the settlers… have weaponised archaeology in Jerusalem and the West Bank, using it as a lever to dispossess Palestinians and enlarge the settler footprint.”
The conference drew widespread criticism, including a statement by the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Haaretz covered the incident here.
