Palestinians say Israel stole ancient baptismal font from Bethlehem town UPDATE

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Mon, 20 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC

© Ma'an News Agency

Ancient baptismal font allegedly stolen from Tugu by Israeli forces.

Palestinians from a Bethlehem-area town are accusing Israeli forces of illegally seizing an ancient artifact from their town in the predawn hours of Monday morning.

The incident took place in the southern occupied West Bank town of Tuqu, which is said to be the birthplace of the biblical prophet Amos, and is home to a number of Byzantine-era archaeological sites.

Video footage, purportedly taken by residents of Tuqu, shows Israeli military forces escorting a large flatbed truck out of the village in the middle of the night.

On the bed of the truck is a massive stone, alleged to be a baptismal font that dates back to the sixth century A.D., that was once part of an ancient church in the village.

The unique octagonal shape of the stone, which has been widely studied by Palestinian cultural organizations, is easily identifiable in the video.

The baptismal font is reported to be one of three rare basins of its kind. The other two were found in the Church of Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, and the Church of Beit Jibrin, an ancient Palestinian village near Hebron that was forcibly depopulated in 1948.

According to Wafa news agency, the same baptismal font was stolen by "unauthorized dealers" back in 2000, before being returned by Palestinian authorities to Tuqu in 2002.

PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi tweeted the video of the seizure, calling it "typical."

"Israel steals our land & resources, plunders our archeological/historical sites, appropriates our cultural heritage & seeks to eradicate all evidence of our identity & continuity in our ancestral homeland-a settler-colonial attempt at erasing evidence of the indigenous."

Local news agencies reported that just days before the seizure of the baptismal font, Israeli forces seized 700 dunams of Palestinian land around the Herodion Mountain south of Bethlehem, allegedly part of Israel's plans to construct a museum in the area.

On social media, Palestinians speculated that the theft of the baptismal stone could be connected to the land seizure around Mount Herodion, which is alleged to be the burial place of King Herod.

Israel has been accused of stealing ancient Palestinian artifacts in the past, most recently in 2018, when a number of ancient artifacts originating in the West Bank were displayed at an Israeli art exhibit in Jerusalem.

International law prohibits an occupying power from assuming ownership of antiquities or transferring artifacts out of the territory it occupies.

Emek Shaveh, an Israeli NGO "working to defend cultural heritage rights," has long criticized Israel for its archaeological practices in the occupied West Bank.

Of Israel's policies regarding artifacts and archaeological sites, the group has said:

"Israel continues to use its position as the administrator of archaeological sites in the West Bank as a means to deepen its control over West Bank land, to expand the settlement enterprise, and extend the policy of dispossession of Palestinians from their lands and cultural assets. Although the takeover of land through archaeology is not the main method of achieving Israeli control over land, it is significant because of its symbolic aspects and impact on public awareness."

Comment: A couple of differing stories regarding the baptismal font and who has rights to it are now in play as Israel claims the relic:

Update: 23/7/2020

While Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) recently celebrated the return of a fifth-century baptismal font, Palestinian officials argue that Israeli forces "stole" the 1,500-year-old relic in an "abominable act of thuggery and cultural appropriation."

Hananya Hizmi, head of COGAT's Antiquities Unit, said on Monday, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.

"I welcome the return of the baptismal font, which is a cultural and historical treasure from the Byzantine period.

" The Civil Administration's heavy investment of effort and resources in the search over recent years for this item has borne fruit. We will continue working tirelessly to preserve the sites and the archaeological relics throughout Judea and Samaria, and to prevent antiquities thieves from looting the history of the region."

Citing a COGAT release, the Jerusalem Post claimed that the baptismal font was looted from the West Bank archaeological site of Tel Tekoa around 20 years ago. COGAT also received assistance from the Bethlehem District Coordination and Liaison Office and Etzion Regional Brigade in recovering the artifact.

However, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Department of Public Diplomacy and Policy offered a different account of the events that transpired late Sunday night and accused "Israeli occupation forces" of stealing the baptismal font from Bethlehem.

Tuqu Mayor Tayseer Abu Mufreh provided more details of the alleged theft, which he said did not happen in Bethlehem, but in his neighboring town.

According to the Middle East North Africa Financial Network, Abu Mufreh recounted that Israeli forces stormed his home, detained members of his family and stole the font. The mayor clarified that the relic was being stored near his home while it awaited transfer to a museum.

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi slammed the alleged theft as "an abominable act of thuggery and cultural appropriation."

"A hallmark of Israel's system of colonial occupation and oppression has been its disdainful attempts to erase Palestinian presence, culture and heritage, including the illegal appropriation and theft of heritage sites and artifacts," she said in a statement, as reported by the CDJ.

The PLO official also called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and its Director-General Audrey Azoulay "to speak out and protect Palestinian heritage."