Archaeological site Tel Shiloh draws controversy скачать в хорошем качестве

Archaeological site Tel Shiloh draws controversy

(27 Mar 2019) LEADIN: Tourists, many of them evangelical Christians, fare flocking to an archaeological site in the West Bank which holds biblical significance. But the site's management has drawn criticism from archaeologists and NGOs. STORYLINE: This scenery may seem peaceful, but this archaeological site in the West Bank is at the centre of disputes. Deep in the West Bank, Israeli settlers have transformed the site into a biblical tourist attraction that attracts tens of thousands of evangelical Christians each year. Tel Shiloh is believed to have been the site of the biblical tabernacle, but not everyone is pleased at how the ruins are presented to visitors. Like many Holy Land sites, Tel Shiloh sits at the confluence of competing narratives of archaeology, religion, and nationalism. Critics say the site promotes a narrow interpretation of history popular with Israeli settlers and their Christian supporters. The hilltop mound, 20 miles (30 kilometres) north of Jerusalem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been excavated by several archaeological missions, starting in 1922, and has yielded remains spanning over 3,700 years. For centuries, Jews, Muslims, and Christians have associated the site with the home of the biblical tabernacle, the portable shrine where the Israelites housed the Ark of the Covenant. Because of its religious significance, the archaeological ruins have become a pilgrimage site for evangelical Christians. Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Tel Shiloh with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and settler leaders, calling it Israel's "first capital." Tour guide Barad agrees. "The site of Shiloh is the first the capital of Israel," he says. "The Bible tells us before the temple was built, before the times of Jerusalem there was a Tabernacle," he explains. According to Barad, during the era of the Byzantine Empire, churches were built on the site. "That's because of course of the biblical story of the whole concept of the tabernacle being here, the place of the divine presence," he says. He adds that the site is also holy for Muslims. In 2009, Tel Shiloh hosted 30,000 visitors, 60 percent of whom identified as evangelical Christians, according to the Israeli government. One visitor from the US, Janic Macintosh, says the appeal for her was to walk where Jesus walked. "To actually be where Jesus was, you kind of get a feel of it and that because we read scripture from each place that we're going to go so we can relate it to where it is in the Bible by the scripture," she says. In 2012, the government allocated about 4.2 million US dollars for a plan to preserve and upgrade the site, inaugurating a new visitors' centre the following year. Since its completion, Tel Shiloh — rebranded as Ancient Shiloh: City of the Tabernacle — has seen tourism skyrocket to around 120,000 visitors in 2018, according to site director Lilyan Zaitman, with over half of the visitors evangelical Christians. Unlike other major sites in the West Bank, Tel Shiloh is managed by the local settler council and Mishkan Shiloh, a private non profit organisation, rather than Israel's Nature and Parks Authority. The site is inside the Jewish settlement of Shiloh, founded after Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war. The tourist attraction is built on private Palestinian land but Palestinians are barred from entering, according to a recent Amnesty International report. The Palestinians have demanded the West Bank as part of their future state, and most of the international community views the settlements as illegal. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...