Tel Shiloh to Receive Government Upgrade Funding

JPost report:-

Jewish heritage site to get NIS 15m. fix

The West Bank Jewish Heritage site Tel Shiloh located north of Jerusalem in the Binyamin region will be renovated with NIS 5 million in government funds and another NIS 10 million from private donations.  The Ministerial Committee for National Heritage sites approved the funding as part of a package of NIS 72 million that it distributed Tuesday morning to 13 such sites throughout the country (*see below).

In Biblical times the Ark of the Covenant was housed at Tel Shiloh, which is now an archeological site, located near the Shiloh settlement community village.

Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On attacked the decision to fund Tel Shiloh. Netanyahu's "extreme right wing government is isolating Israel from the international community," she said.

But rather than welcome the move, right-wing parliamentarians and settler leaders said they were angered that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem were not included in the funding list of 13 sites.  MK Arye Eldad (National Union), who along with MK Ze'ev Elkin (Likud) heads the Land for Israel lobby group in the Knesset, said that the absence of these two sites from the critical funding list was tantamount to their removal from the National Heritage program.

He added that it was yet one more action by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government against the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria.

"Those who forget their past won't have a future," he warned.

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said that both sites remain on the list, but did not meet the criteria for critical funding. While the Cave of the Patriarchs needs handicap access and roof repairs, the Civil Administration is weighing these repairs, the sources said.

Rachel's Tomb has recently undergone a renovation, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said.  They added that both sites remain on the National Heritage list...

Actually, the Tel site lost critical funding about about a decade ago when Benny Elon was Tourism Minister when the director was less than efficient in his administrative duties. I guess this is just compensating.

Besides, we have two upcoming archaeological digs, one to start in mid-March, and a new educational tower and museum to build.

(*)

Gov't release:

Ministerial Heritage Plan Committee Approves 13 Additional Initiatives for Renovation and Strengthening (Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser)

The Ministerial Heritage Plan Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Tuesday), 14.2.12, unanimously approved a plan to renovate and strengthen 13 additional initiatives, at a cost of NIS 72.5 (NIS 32.5 will be financed by the Heritage Plan and NIS 40 million will be financed by outside sources).

The approved initiatives include archaeological sites, sites and structures for preservation and archives, as well as intangible initiatives that promote culture and the arts. Included among the approved initiatives are: An interactive reconstruction of a watchtower-and-stockade community; operating the Yemin Moshe windmill in Jerusalem; preserving and upgrading the Umm El-Umdan archaeological site (near Modi'in), which presents a complete section of a Jewish community from the Hasmonean period; the development of Tel Shilo, where the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant situated; upgrading the presentation at Beit Hapkidot in Rosh Pina and renovating the first Hebrew school in the community; and operating the "Adopt a Site" plan in which students will preserve archaeological sites at Tel Yokneam, Tel Usha and Tel Batash.

...During the meeting, it was made clear that Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs are on the list of the heritage sites of the Jewish People and that their location, importance and centrality will not be infringed on.

Reminder:

In 2010, Netanyahu announced a list of sites, including the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb, which were slated for rehabilitation and renovation as part of Israel’s National Heritage Program. However, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova expressed concern that inclusion of the two sensitive sites would escalate tensions in the region, and U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry said the sites were “of historical and religious significance not only to Judaism but also to Islam and to Christianity as well.”

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