When the Defence Minister was an Antiquities Enthusiast: Moshe Dayan’s Influence on Archaeology in the West Bank Following the Six-Day War

Abstract

Moshe Dayan remains a popular personality who devoted most of his life to the Israeli state and whose military contributions have overshadowed his illegal activities in the field of archaeology. This article offers the first examination of Dayan’s impact on archaeology in the West Bank during his tenure as Israel’s defence minister (1967–74). Dayan moulded the military government in the West Bank in its early years and was involved in appointing the staff officers charged with managing civil affairs. His approach of granting rights to the Palestinians also found expression in his administration of the military government, and most workers in archaeological contexts were Palestinians. However, in parallel to his establishment of local order, Dayan conducted illegal excavations in plain sight of local residents and illegally acquired antiquities in the region. Upon catching antiquities thieves in the Hebron Hills, he purchased their findings and encouraged them to continue excavating, undoubtedly contributing to the high number of illicit excavations. During its early years, the antiquities department he established sought to reduce these thefts; however, Dayan, who held overall responsibility for its operations, sometimes acted in direct contravention of this policy, creating local anarchy whose impact is still felt today.

Keywords:

• Moshe Dayan
• West Bank
• archaeology
• Israel
• occupation
• Judea
• Samaria

Acknowledgements

This article was written with the support of the Centre for Jewish and Israel Studies and the Heritage Center for the Study of the Kingdom of Israel, Ariel University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 See, for example, the remarks made in Dayan’s memory before the Knesset during a special session marking the twentieth anniversary of his death, on 28 November 2001: <http://knesset.gov.il/tql/knesset_new/knesset15/HTML_28_03_2012_09-20-03-AM/20011128@[email protected] >.

2 The overt and covert attitudes and intentions of the leaders of the state of Israel towards the West Bank and its future have been discussed at length in the field of research in several perspectives (e.g., Said, 1979; Raz, 2013; Gelber, 2018). The current article focuses solely on Dayan’s influence on the field of archaeology, therefore we will not discuss the purpose of his intentions and the policy of the Israeli prime ministers. However, a brief presentation of their approach and methods of operation is intended to provide a general framework of Dayan’s actions in the field of archaeology, and they reflect his intentions as formally presented by him. Nor will the political, national, and colonial implications of archaeology in the West Bank be discussed in the article. Although the archaeological research trends in this area have undoubtedly been influenced by official Israeli government policy (e.g., Abu El-Haj, 2001; Greenberg and Keinan, 2009), it seems that this is not the place to deal about them extensively, and they have been detailed by us elsewhere (Lash et al., 2022).

3 In 1967, Sebaste, Hisham’s Palace, and Qumran were declared to be national parks in the West Bank. Herodiumwas added to this list in February 1969 (Ministry of Defence, 1973: 147).

4 At the same time, some of these employees continued to receive their wages from Jordan as part of a Jordanian effort to prove its ties to the West Bank. Israel did not prevent this from occurring (Nevo, 2005: 150–51).

5 The staff officers’ subordination to two authorities, one civilian and one military, initially appears to be limiting and a constraint on freedom of action. However, this arrangement sometimes had the opposite effect of making staff officers not responsible to either party, allowing them independence in their decision making (Greenberg & Keinan, 2009: 6).

6 For the scanned reports, see<https://www.akevot.org.il/article/directors-general-committee-1967-1977/>.

7 In 2020, for the first time, an internet site was launched by the Staff Officer for Archaeology in Judea and Samaria that provides information about the department's undertakings. See: <https://www.jsarch.org.il/blank-8>.

8 Because the Six-Day War lasted only a short time and did almost no damage to the civil system in the West Bank, most of the employees who made up middle management and below were absorbed into the military government system. Most of the senior workers were Jordanians and continued their work after 1967 in Jordan (Elpeleg, 1983: 120).

9 We conjecture that Yeivin’s appointment in the months immediately following the war was meant only to last until Meshorer had recovered from his injury. It is not our intention here to disparage Meshorer, who was an honest and distinguished researcher, but rather to consider Dayan’s involvement and tendencies.

10 Interview with Ada Yeivin, 16 September 2020.

11 On 20 March 968, Dayan was injured during a looting he conducted in the area (Dayan, 1986: 145). According to Peri’s testimony, the injury does not appear to have stopped Dayan from continuing to dig.

12 One of the inscriptions published by Dever in those years came to him from antiquities dealers after they had been stolen from Khirbet el-Qom (Dever, 1969–70: 139).

13 Although the Department of the Staff Officer for Archaeology made great efforts to eradicate antiquities theft, its efforts appear to have been insufficient to change the reality that had been created.

14 For an extended discussion, see: <http://hebron.org.il/news/109>.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mordechay Lash

Mordechay Lash is a doctoral student at Ariel University. He works as a tour guide and writes informational literature for the National Parks Authority in Israel.

Corresponding author: Mordechay Lash. Email: [email protected]

Yossi Goldstein

Prof. Yossi Goldstein has written many books and articles on topics related to the history of the early Zionist movement and the history of the state of Israel. He works as a full professor at the University of Ariel.

Itzhaq Shai

Prof. Itzhaq Shai an archaeologist and the director of the Tel Burna Archaeological Project. His research focuses on the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Southern Levant. He completed his PhD at Bar Ilan University and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Semitic Museum of Harvard University. He joined Ariel University in 2012 as a senior lecturer and in 2015 established Israel’s newest institute of archaeology. He is the editor of two books and has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals.