Archaeology as Annexation: An Update from Sebastia
New piece for The Drift: Militarized digs, mass expropriation, and escalating violence
Hi all—
Last year, I reported for The Drift from the West Bank village of Sebastia, where Israel has been using archaeology as a tool of annexation. The piece traced how archaeology has long been embedded in Zionism as a means of converting selective history into modern territorial control.
I returned in October and found that my grimmest predictions are coming true: Israel has effectively built an archipelago of militarized archaeological outposts, nearly 40 percent of the village is slated for expropriation, and violence around the heritage sites is escalating. Just weeks after my first piece was published, Israeli snipers shot and killed a fourteen-year-old boy.
All over Sebastia, you can see what Israel’s professed care for protecting heritage looks like in practice:
Ayman Schaer, who was shot in the Roman acropolis during my visit in March 2024, is still bedridden, his leg held together by pins. [Graphic video warning]
Elsewhere in Sebastia, beyond the archaeological sites, settler outposts have spread across agricultural fields, and armed settlers and soldiers have blocked locals from reaching their own land, routinely humiliating them:
In other words, the situation in Sebastia—like much of the West Bank—is rapidly spiraling out of control. You can read my new report here:
For more on the efforts to stop the expropriation, follow @SaveSebastia on Instagram.
More soon,
Jasper
If you’re looking for a meaningful holiday gift, might I suggest putting it toward independent journalism?
November offered a reminder of what this work can actually do—especially with a mainstream media that refuses to hold power to account. The settler I documented clubbing a grandmother in a video that drew international outrage was indicted on terrorism charges. A few hours later, 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim—whose case I’ve covered almost daily since July while most outlets ignored it—was freed from Israeli military detention.
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