Dispatch from Jerusalem

IAA Theft Unit Uncovers Church

Guns and archaeologists are not a normal mix, but because of antiquities theft—a lucrative business here—the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), in 1985, created a theft unit that packs guns. Like other police and the military, these special “police” do ambushes, stake-outs, interrogations, and even use night-vision binoculars in their efforts to catch culprits red-handed.

Prepared for a Hostile Regime in Egypt

{image_1}The story goes that an Israeli army chief of general staff once came to his headquarters and announced that he had some good news and some bad news. The bad news was that Egypt now has top-of-the-line, sophisticated U.S. weaponry. The good news was…that Egypt has top-of-the-line, sophisticated U.S. weaponry. American military support—and the spare parts to keep the equipment running—comes with conditions attached, including that they aren’t used against Washington’s Israeli ally. Nevertheless, Israel never abandoned its doctrine to maintain forces capable of fighting a two-front war, even if it hadn’t faced Egypt on the battlefield for over 37 years and has formally been at peace with it since 1979.

Jerusalem Arabs Prefer Israel

WASHINGTON—The future of Jerusalem is considered one of the core issues in Israeli–Palestinian negotiations and one of the most significant obstacles to a permanent agreement between the two sides. However, it appears that on the Palestinian side, those who live in Jerusalem have already made their decision on the matter—and the Palestinian Authority leadership in Ramallah may not like it.

Missiles Expected to Hit Tel Aviv

{image_1}Tel Aviv has managed to escape the missile threat in the last two wars with Lebanon and Gaza, but with terrorists in both regions having acquired more advanced missiles, the second-largest city in Israel could be hit by dozens of missiles in the next war, according to Haaretz newspaper. The commander of the Dan region in the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command, Col. Adam Zussman, told Haaretz in an interview regarding Tel Aviv, “Under any war scenario, it will be hit by a large number of missiles, missiles that are precise and lethal. However, our preparedness to deal with such missiles has also improved.”

Map of “Palestine” Erases Israel

{image_1}During a visit to Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority [PA] Chairman Mahmoud Abbas held up a stone model of the map of “Palestine” that erases Israel (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 26, 2010). US President Barack Obama has condemned the existence of maps like the one Abbas displayed as a “security” threat to Israel: “I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security…Not when there are terrorist groups and political leaders committed to Israel's destruction. Not when there are maps across the Middle East that don't even acknowledge Israel's existence” (Obama at AIPAC Conference, June 4, 2008).

Threatened Christians Flee Middle Eastern Countries

{image_1}In the last ten years, the Christian population in the Middle East has decreased by 1.5 million people (from 15 million in 2000 to 13.5 million today). In Egypt, the Copts suffer from violence and persecution by Muslim extremists. In the Palestinian Authority, the Christian population of Bethlehem, which only three decades ago was in the majority, is now a fraction of the population, as Christians flee from persecution and marginalization in the predominantly Muslim area. In Iraq, barely a half a million Christians remain from a population of 1.3 million a few years ago. When encountering persecution, many Christians prefer to leave and look for other countries willing to accept them.

123,500 Join Israel’s Poor

{image_1}SOME 123,500 PEOPLE joined the circle of poverty in Israel in 2009, according to the National Insurance Institute's Poverty and Social Gaps report. A total of 850,300 children live under the poverty line, the report said, and almost two in five children are disadvantaged. In total, Israel has 435,000 poor families.

Susita Finds

Susita (covered in our December 2009 Dispatch)—a Greco-Roman city also called Hippos and one of the 10 cities of the Decapolis—overlooks the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Dead Sea Scrolls Digitalized

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As part of the celebrations of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s (IAA) 20th anniversary in October, a unique project was announced—the documentation of the entire collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They are using the most advanced and innovative technologies available to image the entire collection of 900 manuscripts comprising some 30,000 Dead Sea Scrolls fragments in hi-resolution and multi spectra. These digitized images will be freely available and accessible to anyone anywhere in the world on the Internet.  This is the first time that the collection of Scrolls will be photographed in its entirety since the 1950s.

King Herod’s Theater Box

{image_1}Two years ago, we published an article about new discoveries made at the Herodium, the conical fortress built by first-century King Herod near Bethlehem. One of the finds was King Herod’s private theater with a royal box at the top in the center of a group of rooms. Last summer, even more was revealed about this box (8 x 7 meters, 26 x 23 feet) that doubtless hosted the king, his close friends, and family members during performances.