The story is told by an archaeologist familiar with Israel. A few years ago, chosen by the very official Antiquities Authority to direct an excavation site in Jerusalem, he went to the site to carry out reconnaissance. The first day, a Palestinian showed up and told him that he could not search there because, he claimed, the land belonged to him. The archaeologist, with the Authority’s permit, rejects him. On the second day, an ultra-Orthodox Jew showed up and forbade him to search because there were graves there and the ground was sacred. He pushes her away a little more firmly. On the third day, a Greek Orthodox Christian claimed the place. Impossible, this time, to ignore it: verification done, the land belongs to this community installed in a nearby monastery, an arrangement must be found to start the construction site.
The anecdote could make you smile if it were not revealing of the desires and quarrels aroused by the archaeological excavations in Jerusalem. In recent years, the right-wing of the Israeli government and the presence of ultranationalists in the Netanyahu team and in the Jerusalem municipality have rekindled never-extinguished embers. “Here, there is a potential conflict behind each pickaxe,” warn the archaeologists.
In a city as disputed as Jerusalem, every square centimeter of the underground, where traces of the past lie, can be a pretext to prove roots or legitimacy. Around the Rock the three monotheisms developed. Solomon built the first Jewish Temple there, Jesus came to pray there, and Mohammed made one of his last journeys there. So many episodes which have made these few square kilometers holy places with a high flammable content. Since 1967, divisions born from the Six-Day War have been superimposed on this religious fragmentation: yesterday under Jordanian authority, East Jerusalem is now annexed by the Israelis, and the Palestinians continue to claim it as their own. In this context, archaeological excavations and remains can very quickly feed national narratives and territorial claims. Proving who was first in which part of the Old City becomes crucial.
Colonization and archeology mixed in Silwan
The emergence, in recent years, on the Israeli side, of nationalist or ultraorthodox groups with significant resources, benefiting from explicit support from the Israeli authorities and keen to impose their version of History has increased tensions. One place, in particular, is the object of all attention: the City of David, located near the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan and supposed to be the site of King David’s Jerusalem. With 17 excavation campaigns, the place is undoubtedly the one that has been the most explored. But the tone has changed since Elad, a private foundation, played a key role. With its considerable resources, it obtained excavation permits from the Antiquities Authority. But, at the same time, it is carrying out a colonization operation on the surface, buying up houses and buildings belonging to Palestinians. She has already contributed to the installation of nearly 500 settlers, arousing the anger of the Arab residents of the neighborhood. His contribution to archaeological work is suspected of having no other aim than to establish a “Jewish history” of the place to justify its contemporary colonization. Moreover, guides from the foundation accompany the visitor in the City of David with a carefully considered speech. The signs welcoming visitors invite them to “see with their own eyes the characters and places of the Bible”. The Jewish past is exalted there, no place is given to Muslims. The guides of the Emek Shaveh association, which fights against the politicization of archeology and offers alternative, less oriented visits, are having a hard time keeping up with the Elad juggernaut.
Most of the archaeologists who worked on the site of the City of David deny any political vision. The most honest recognize that they are showing a touch of hypocrisy by taking refuge behind a strictly scientific approach. But, to search in Jerusalem, it is difficult to do differently. Since 1967 and the annexation of East Jerusalem, in fact, only work carried out under the aegis of the Israel Antiquities Authority can take place there, no international excavations are authorized there.
The temptation to confirm the official story
Some researchers have openly given in to political temptation, like Eilat Mazar of the University of Jerusalem. In the mid-2000s, this archaeologist was commissioned to carry out excavations in Silwan. Very quickly, she claimed to have unearthed remains of King David’s palace under East Jerusalem, suggesting that she provided proof that Jews lived there sixteen centuries before Muslims. His discoveries are timely. Shortly before, Israel Finkelstein, one of his colleagues at Tel Aviv University, challenged the historical veracity of the great founding kings of Israel, David in particular, in a noted work, The Bible revealed. Most archaeologists suspect Eilat Mazar, now deceased, of having been too assertive, in order to fit the official national history. “His hypothesis is presented as 80% plausible, while it is only 10% plausible,” explains one of his colleagues, concerned with discretion so as not to be deprived of precious subsidies or a future project. So as not to risk causing an incident either.
Even if the vast majority of construction sites take place in a peaceful scientific climate, all the archaeologists present in Jerusalem know that a deadly confrontation can break out at the slightest suspicion. In 1996, riots caused several dozen victims after Benjamin Netanyahu, already Prime Minister, gave the green light to work in tunnels dug under the Western Wall esplanade. The Palestinians considered that these galleries threatened the solidity of the support of the Mosques esplanade, just above. Ten years later, in 2007, a renovation project on an access ramp to the esplanade, carried out by the Israelis in parallel with archaeological excavations, caused a diplomatic crisis. Jordan, Egypt and Morocco are calling for an immediate halt to work. A mission mandated by Unesco will call for caution due to the fragility and sensitivity of the site.
In an eruptive context, each decision is subject to interpretation and contestation. Thus, at the very beginning of 2023, the Israeli authorities will begin work aimed at solidifying the infrastructure of the Western Wall esplanade. But construction machinery reveals alleys and remains of homes in the “Maghrebi quarter” destroyed in 1967 after the conquest of East Jerusalem by the Israeli army. While archaeologists are delighted with these discoveries on a place that they thought had disappeared, the Israeli authorities are cutting things short, reporting “rapid excavations” and the absence of “significant discoveries”. Enough to fuel once again, on the Palestinian side, the suspicion of a desire to erase the Arab presence in favor of a single Jewish national narrative. And to widen the fault lines which continue to divide the city, above and below ground.
.