Israel snubbed by world archaeology: Israelis complain Palestinian names being used in Palestine

World Archaeological Congress excludes Israelis from Ramallah
15th August 2009

Israel's Antiquity Authority bitterly condemned the World Archaeological Congress for failing to invite Israelis to a conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. This follows the departure of the Israeli Journalists from the International Journalists Union recently.

The Israeli State normally excludes all Israelis from visiting Ramallah, but consistency has never been a Zionist trait (save for dispossession and theft)

In a letter to WAC President Clair Smith Thursday, the IAA protested the organization of the conference, "which relates specifically to the conduct of Israeli archaeology, but, to our knowledge, Israeli archaeologists were not invited nor were they informed."

Dahari was angry at the use of Palestinian names for the sites such as Haram al-Sharif for the Temple Mount, since Israel is in the middle of a long-term programme of obliterating Palestinian names, history and memory, with the active connivance of the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

"It would be best if the WAC would focus on archaeology and not on politics," said Dahari, on behalf of the highly politicised IAA, without a doubt one of the most politicised archaeological associations in the world.

Report from UPI here

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