Israeli officer 'seized ancient stone' during West Bank raid

An Israeli police officer has been accused of seizing an ancient stone from a West Bank village, the latest act by 'amateur archaeologists' using the military to nab artefacts from Palestinian areas or prove 'Jewish links' to Arab land.

Meir Rotter, head of the Israel Police's ultra-Orthodox community department, was friends with Zeev Erlich, a Jewish settler and amateur 'historian', who was killed while taking part in an incursion with the Israeli army in Lebanon.

Rotter, an amateur archaeologist, reportedly first spotted a carving of an ancient reed lantern during a tour of the West Bank village of Kafr Dhaba, east of Tulkarem, in 2017 with Erlich, and this weekend, returned to the village.

Backed by Israeli troops, Rotter confiscated the ancient carved stone Erlich spotted during the 2017 tour and took it from the village.

"A few years ago, Jabo [Zeev Erlich] visited and saw a repurposed stone. It had a decoration of a menorah, which was familiar to us from other places. We find Samarian menorahs in Jitt, Kafr Qaddum, Haja," he said in a video shared on social media.

"Here too, in Kafr Dhaba, we find a lintel with a menorah. After our visit, the residents realise that there is something here that might be worth money, worth gold. I don't know what it is worth. They dismantle the lintel and the lintel is waiting, apparently to be sold to antiquity robbers. In a search of the village, we found the stone thrown in one of the courtyards, and we will save it. This is a matter of heritage; we are returning a lost object to its owner."

Israeli media have said that Rotter does not serve in the Israeli police's Judea and Samaria District division, which operates in the occupied West Bank, and did not appear to have any authority to take the stone.

Israeli police told Haaretz that they were unaware of Rotter's actions and said they would investigate the incident. Rotter also did not inform the Civil Administration, which Israel uses to control the occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Israeli military, which took part in the seizure of the ancient stone, did not respond to Haaretz's request for comment.

The incident happened in Area A of the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority has full control of the territory, including over artefacts. 

Amateur Israeli archaeologists, usually motivated by 'proving' Jewish links to Palestinian and Arab land, have embedded themselves in the military during recent assaults in the occupied Palestinian Territory and Lebanon.

The officer in charge of the Israeli unit with which Erlich was embedded when he was killed in Lebanon was later indicted.

Israel has destroyed Palestinian heritage sites in the occupied West Bank, including ancient graveyards, and land grabs near historic settlements.

During its war on Gaza, it destroyed and damaged some of the enclave's best-known and loved historical and religious sites, including the Al-Omari Mosque.

Israel has also been accused of cultural genocide in Gaza, with the killing of Palestinian artists, authors, journalists, musicians and other creatives during the assault on the enclave.