The far-left group Standing Together said it will hold a protest tomorrow, Wednesday, outside the Orient Hotel in Jerusalem, where an international conference on archaeology and innovations in Judea and Samaria is due to take place. The event is being organized by the archaeology desk officer in the Civil Administration, the Ministry of Heritage, and the Council for the Preservation of Heritage Sites in Israel.
The conference is described as one of the field’s main gatherings and is expected to draw researchers, academics, and professional audiences from Israel and abroad. Organizers say it will present new studies and findings, including work on the Qumran caves, discoveries from Tel Shilo, research in the Mount Menashe area, and new findings on ancient Hebron.
In a statement titled “We Will Not Stay Silent in the Face of the Expulsion Conference,” Standing Together accused the event of normalizing what it called realities in the West Bank, including land dispossession, the expulsion of communities, and illegal excavations. The activists said they were protesting what they described as “archaeology in the service of messianism” and “research in the service of transfer.”
People involved in organizing the conference rejected the allegations, saying it is a professional, scientific event focused on history and heritage. They said the meeting is meant to showcase new archaeological research without any political agenda, and added that it will go ahead as planned despite the protest. One of the organizers said critics are “afraid of the reality that shows Jews lived there and the kingdoms of Israel flourished for many years,” adding that the planned disruption “will not succeed.”
