Heritage Ownership
Cavalier mischief on the part of Jordan, insisting now that it too, not only the Palestinian Authority, should be regarded as the true owners of the Dead Sea scrolls. Quite remarkable in the level of its historical absurdity. On loan still at the Royal Ontario Museum as a travelling exhibit, thanks to the generosity of the Israel Antiquities Authority, these priceless treasures reflecting Jewish heritage are in the care of the people representing the modern version of ancient Jewry.Jordan's claim of their ownership in what it insists was 'disputed territory' goes beyond absurd. Jordan and Egypt moved themselves into unauthorized possession of a geographic location which had historically been known as Palestine, and the original people of Palestine were none other than Jews. Arabs slowly began to filter into the geography, and they took the name of Palestinians from the Jewish residents.
The Arabs were generally of Jordanian and of Egyptian heritage. Those now calling themselves Palestinians and clinging to their over-half-century status as refugees, need not have remained refugees had their original countries of origin to which so many had filtered immediately post-inauguration of the State of Israel, absorbed them responsibly. As has been done since time immemorial.
And when Israel mounted her defence in 1967 against marauding combined Arab armies intent on dislodging her from her geography and in the process re-capturing the West Bank and Gaza, along with eastern Jerusalem she was reclaiming that which was originally Jewish, and which the Palestinians had rejected through Partition authorized by the United Nations.
The Dead Sea scrolls, comprised of hundreds of documents and Biblical texts, unearthed in caves around biblical Qumran on the shore of the Dead Sea represent Jewish history during the period of the Second Temple, before 100 B.C.E. Are the Pyramids at Giza Egyptian? Is the Leaning Tower of Pisa Italian? Is Petra Jordanian? Is the Parthenon Greek? Does the Temple of Artemis belong to Turkey?
For her part, Israel recognizes the sacred scrolls as a world heritage archaeological discovery of great meaning. It sees itself as the custodian of the scrolls, and "as such we have a right to exhibit them and to conserve them". The Dead Sea scrolls indisputably represent Jewish heritage. This is fact, and it is not amenable to alteration.
Full stop.
Labels: Israel, Realities, Traditions
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, January 03, 2010
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