Dozens of Jewish settlers on Wednesday morning stormed Sebastia town north of Nablus in the occupied West Bank at the pretext of visiting and performing rituals at the archeological site.
Sebastia mayor Mohamed Azem said that scores of settlers stormed under military protection the ancient area of the town.
Azem added that the IOF cordoned off the area around the site and barred local residents from using the paths and roads leading to it.
He pointed out that the town’s historic site is repeatedly stormed by settlers and soldiers in an effort to impose a new fait accompli and declare the place as a Jewish site.
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.
