The Israeli occupation army has started implementing a Judaization project in the archeological area of Sebastia town northwest of Nablus.
In press remarks on Monday Sebastia mayor Mohamed Azem said that a local resident from the town received a military notice ordering him to evacuate a swath of land and a tourist tent belonging to him near the archeological site at the pretext of their location in Area C of the West Bank which is under Israeli army control.
Mayor Azem added that the Israeli army handed over the archeological site to an Israeli construction contractor whose company started to survey the location as a prelude to carrying out the Judaization project which had been announced recently by the Israeli government.
He affirmed that the Israeli government moved from the planning stage to the implementation stage regarding the Judaization of the ancient site of Sebastia with no regard for the international law.
Last May the Israeli government approved a budget of 32 million shekels to Judaize the archeological site of Sebastia and establish a Jewish tourist center in the place.
Since the six-day war in 1967 Sebastia has been held under Israeli military occupation while the Palestinian Authority is the civil authority of the area.
Sebastia is a mixture of structural remains and modern buildings and it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the West Bank.
It was once a major city home to successive civilizations from its Arab Canaanite founders to the Romans and then its modern-day Palestinian inhabitants.
Both the major archaeological site above the village and the historic center of the town itself are still fascinating tourist attractions.
However this unique ancient town is exposed to systematic attempts by the Israeli occupation state and its ministry of tourism to obliterate and Judaize its Arab history and identity.
The occupation state also prevents the Palestinian local authorities from carrying out any restoration or cleaning works at the historical site in the town.
