IN an attempt to resolve a year-long dispute between archaeologists and ultra-orthodox religious groups, Israel鈥檚 cabinet is soon to vote on a proposal that would make Prime Minister Shimon Peres the ultimate arbiter of whether ancient graves can be excavated. The proposal has been sharply criticised by both the ultra-orthodox and the archaeologists.
Under the proposal, the Prime Minister will be able to order an immediate halt to any excavation where there is a dispute between archaeologists and officials of the Ministry of Religion. A cabinet committee headed by Peres will then decide whether unearthed bones should be removed and reburied, or whether the excavation should stop entirely.
The crisis began a year ago, when Israel鈥檚 attorney-general ruled that any remains exhumed at archaeological sites must be handed over to the Ministry of Religion for immediate reburial (This Week, 4 March 1995). Since the ruling, researchers have been unable to study bones discovered at any site in Israel. The country is rich in the remains of early humans and ancient civilisations, and scholars complain that their work has been seriously hampered.
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Most graves are uncovered during rescue excavations, digs carried out at sites where construction work is planned. Israel鈥檚 Antiquities Law requires that any archaeological site uncovered in the process of constructing a building or road must first be excavated professionally before work can continue.
Ultra-orthodox groups have long fought against any excavation of graves and have often staged violent demonstrations at sites where, they claim, Jewish cemeteries have been unearthed. Jewish religious law generally forbids the disturbance of Jewish cemeteries, but under certain circumstances human remains may be moved, for instance, in order to make way for a road or for the expansion of a city.
The hard-line groups, however, have often tried to prevent all excavations of any grave sites, including non-Jewish ones, and because the large political parties often need the support and the goodwill of the ultra-orthodox representatives in the Knesset, the hard-liners have often been able to impose their will.
Most of the country鈥檚 archaeologists think it is possible to achieve a compromise that will respect the dead and allow excavations to continue. But they fear that the new proposal will make Israeli archaeology even more vulnerable to changing political winds.
鈥淪o long as there is such great political pressure, it is hard to see a solution,鈥� says Amihi Mazar, professor of archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 鈥淚 can understand that it is forbidden to move the bones of our forefathers. But the problem is that we find bones in so many places. We have always treated them with respect.鈥�
Mazar maintains that it is critical that bones be removed from graves by archaeologists and not by religious officials, so that the sites can be properly recorded and studied.
Ze鈥檈v Safrai, an orthodox religious scholar of ancient Israeli history at Bar-Ilan University, believes that the study of archaeological remains is essential to understanding the Jewish people鈥檚 past. He also believes that people鈥檚 bones should be treated with respect. While Safrai is critical of both the ultra-orthodox and of some of his academic colleagues, he is angrier with the hard-line religious groups than the researchers. 鈥淲e have to work towards a compromise, and the fact is that all the nonreligious groups are prepared to compromise. There is a lot of room to find a compromise and it鈥檚 possible to find one.鈥�
However, Safrai doubts that it will be possible to reach a consensus in the current charged political climate. 鈥淓xcavation will be determined by the amount of political pressure exerted by each side,鈥� he says.
The sole orthodox voice in the cabinet disagrees. Rabbi Yehuda Amital, Minister without Portfolio, believes that government intervention is necessary for the time being. 鈥淏oth the ultra-orthodox and the archaeologists have not always acted in good faith. We鈥檝e got to rebuild their trust in each other,鈥� he says.