Archaeological sites in the West Bank under Israeli control?

The Israeli Knesset has approved in a preliminary reading a bill that would transfer control of archaeological sites in the occupied West Bank from the Ministry of Defense to a new civil authority called the 'Heritage Authority in Judea and Samaria,' directly under the Ministry of Heritage. The bill, proposed by the Likud party and far-right religious factions, would apply to all zones of the West Bank (A, B, and C), overriding the Oslo Accords' division of administrative responsibilities. Proponents argue it is necessary for cultural victory amid ongoing conflicts, while critics note it comes amid accelerated settlement activity and recent damage to sites by Israeli settlers.

This matters because the bill represents a de facto annexation of the West Bank's cultural heritage, according to the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh, which documents attacks on heritage. By removing archaeological oversight from the military occupation framework and placing it under a civilian authority tied to the government and settler communities, the legislation would politicize archaeology and exclude the Palestinian Authority from managing its own heritage. The move violates the 1954 Hague Convention, which requires an occupying power to act as a legal guardian of antiquities for the benefit of the occupied population, not for its own interests.