Violation: looting antiquities
Date: April, 01, 2015
Location: Deir Saman- Salfit
Victims: the Palestinian history
Details:
Deir Saman is an archeological site holding several Roman ruins; it is located in an area classified 'C' according to Oslo and it has been inaccessible for years due to its closeness to Eli Zahav and Lashem colonies. Traces showed the presence of a Roman city that was there 1500 ago in addition to signs from the Islamic and Farsi eras that ruled the area back in time.
Deir Saman is one of 22,000 archeological sites in Palestine that are threatened of erasing due to the Israeli measures
Non-stop thefts:
Since the early days of the occupation of Palestine, the Israeli Occupation Authorities have launched a total war targeting archeological sites is a way to erase the Palestinians heritage and culture in an attempt to detach them from the lands and erase their long lasting history.
The area of Deir Saman was declared a closed military zone, inaccessible for Palestinians. This encouraged the Israeli Occupation Authorities and colonists to excavate the ruins looking for artifacts. They went further by transporting some of the ruins and the things they had found into the nearby colony; they even used the old rocks that were used for construction to construct houses in the colony in an attempt to find a historical linkage with the colony.
Photos 1+2: excavations in the area of Deir Saman
According to eyewitnesses from the town of Kfar ad-Deik and Deir Ballut, a number of Israeli trucks were noticed moving antiquities, rocks and stones from the area of Deir Saman to the nearby colony of Lashem ; the old rocks were used to construct houses in the colony in an attempt to distort history and change facts on the ground.
It should be marked that the Israeli machineries, lately, embarked on ravaging the periphery of Deir Saman, initiating the establishment of Lashem, which is an extension of Eli Zahav colony; the new colony was ratified by the Ministry of Housing- Israel government in 2013; it is supposed to accommodate 150 residential units.
Photos 3+4: Lashem colony under construction
The colony of Lashem is planned to be established on confiscated lands from the residents of the villages of Kfar ad-Deik and Deir Ballut in 2002; citizen were denied access to those lands under the pretext of "security purposes".
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
