Is Israel Stealing "Palestinian" Antiquities?

Israel Finkelstein, who I first met in 1981 while he was engaged in the Shiloh dig, is a bit controversial.

But in responding to an Al-Jazeera report, which I presume expresses this viewpoint:

The use of archeology as a tool for political directives has been a longstanding Israeli strategy to deny Palestinians their legitimate national and political rights.

he comes out fighting

One of his objects is Thomas Thompson, a "minimalist" in terms of Biblical archaeology, writing for example of the tenth century:

"There is no evidence of a United Monarchy, no evidence of a capital in Jerusalem or of any coherent, unified political force that dominated western Palestine, let alone an empire of the size the legends describe. We do not have evidence for the existence of kings named Saul, David or Solomon; nor do we have evidence for any temple at Jerusalem in this early period. What we do know of Israel and Judah of the tenth century does not allow us to interpret this lack of evidence as a gap in our knowledge and information about the past, a result merely of the accidental nature of archaeology. There is neither room nor context, no artifact or archive that points to such historical realities in Palestine's tenth century. One cannot speak historically of a state without a population. Nor can one speak of a capital without a town. Stories are not enough."

But the thrust of Finkelstein's response is to an Al-Jazeera program on the theft of "Palestinian antiquitese" , it seems, although I cannot locate it. I received Finkelstein's article (Kippah tip: BLS) and had to search for its Internet location. Thompson has a comment there. Here are some outtakes:

Let me start out by stating the very obvious: This is a piece of political propaganda, aimed – as the bon ton goes today – at de-legitimizing Israel... I wish to demonstrate – point by point – why this is a worthless film, ridden with manipulations, political propaganda, incorrect facts and even lies.

1. The creators of the film has no intention of being balanced...

2. At times the film, intentionally or unintentionally, resorts to anti-Semitic stereotypes...

3. Let the truth be known: Most of the looting in the West Bank (as well as in Israel!) has been carried out by Palestinians...

4. From the point of view of international law, the West Bank and Gaza are contested territories...The verdict regarding sites in these territories and antiquities found in them must therefore wait for a final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians...

5. Hisham’s Palace near Jericho (Khirbat el-Mafjar) was excavated between 1934 and 1948 at the time of the British Mandate, and the artifacts were then taken to Jerusalem. Israel had nothing to do with this.

6. The Dead Sea Scrolls on display in the Israel Museum were bought into the US in the 1940s and 1950s. As such, they are not contested, not even by the Palestinians and Jordanians...

7. Moshe Dayan’s looting of antiquities was scandalous and the sale of the looted antiquities to the Israel Museum a shame...

8. The fact that the City of David site is administered by a non-governmental organization with a political orientation is disgraceful. This sensitive place must be administered by the state...

9. Also for the record, it must be said that the most devastating damage inflicted on antiquities in Jerusalem was the bulldozing of (mainly Islamic) antiquities from the Temple Mount by the Waqf...

10. The narrator complains that only Jewish antiquities are being sold in the Arab markets of east Jerusalem and that Islamic antiquities have no value in these markets. Now, the value of antiquities rises and falls in accordance with the interest of foreign tourists and possible (mainly foreign) collectors...

11. The program is full of false allegations:

that artifacts from excavations in the West Bank were handed over to collectors

that tunnels are being dug under the el-Aqsa mosque

Thomas Thompson makes a connection between (first Prime Minister of Israel) David Ben Gurion’s interest in archaeology and the refugees of 1948. This is a manipulation of the facts...

...without counting articles, I dare state that Israeli scholars contribute to the knowledge of Islamic archaeology more than all archaeologists in the Arab world combined. In the end, archaeology – as every other science – is decided by the level of education and scholarly work, not by politics and propaganda.

Since the Palestinian Authority has failed to adequately protect Jewish antiquities, (for a general semi-anti-Israel viewpoint review see here althought they admit that: "Overall, there are few sites actually contained within Jewish settlements. We have found no evidence for any regular trend that exploits archaeology to establish Jewish priority at a given site" and also this "the flowering of academic research at the same time must be related to the appointment of Yuval Ne’eman as Science Minister in 198 , since this member of the extreme-right Tehiya party was a staunch supporter of archaeological research in the occupied disputed territories".) although there is one improvement at Joseph's Tomb, it would appear that A-Jazeera was engaged in real chutzpah.

^

UPDATE

I refound Larry Derfner's piece, UNESCO is right, Israel is wrong wherein, in defending UNESCO's report on Rachel's Tomb, Derfner writes:

whenever Israel does anything to strengthen its rule over the Palestinians and the land where they live, Israel is wrong.

And read Ephraim Cohen's letter.

A real pro-Pal. piece is here.