The Regavim Movement sent an urgent letter to Defense Minister Yisrael Katz demanding that the law be enforced and sovereignty maintained at the Khirbet Zanuta site. RegGavim demanded that “foreign provocateurs and anarchists” be prevented from inciting violence at the site.
Regavim noted that in recent days, Arab squatters had invaded the Khirbet Zanuta archaeological site in the southern Hebron Hills and returned several times following a High Court decision ordering authorities and IDF forces to facilitate their return to the site.
Khirbet Zanuta is located in the southern Hebron Hills, near the settlement of Shim’a in Area C, which is under full Israeli jurisdiction. In the early 2000s, Arabs from the village of Dahariya and the surrounding area invaded the site. They erected numerous illegal structures on and near the site, destroying antiquities and historical artifacts.
Khirbet Zanuta was declared a protected archaeological site as early as the British Mandatory period, and artifacts from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, medieval, and Ottoman periods were found there. Some artifacts have already been damaged and destroyed by the Arab squatters. In early 2024, the squatters abandoned Khirbet Zanuta. The increased presence of IDF forces in the area had made it more difficult for them to stock their illegal “village” with supplies.
Months later, the Arab squatters petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice, demanding that the IDF facilitate their return to the site. During the hearing of their petition, the judge questioned the squatters’ lawyer about the destruction of the heritage site, who dismissed the question entirely, claiming that “we all live on an archaeological site.”
To implement the High Court of Justice’s decision, earlier this week, the Commander of the Central Command, Major General Avi Balut, issued a closed military area order prohibiting Israelis from entering the compound. Foreign anti-Israel activists who do not hold Israeli citizenship began arriving in the area daily, instigating provocations and clashes with security forces and residents of nearby Jewish communities.
In their letter to the Minister of Defense, Regavim wrote: “The decision by the High Court of Justice sets a dangerous precedent which harms not only the rule of law and law enforcement but also impedes the preservation of priceless historical and heritage sites. The order prohibiting only Israeli citizens from entering the compound creates, in practice, an ‘invitation’ for foreign provocateurs to exploit the situation. It opens the door for them – and only for them – to come to this highly sensitive area, provoke confrontations, and strengthen the grip of criminals and hostile elements on the territory they have invaded.”
Regavim called upon the High Court “to instruct the Commander of Central Command to amend the order so that it allows only those to whom the High Court ruling referred (i.e., the squatters who were granted permission to return to the site) to enter the closed area of Khirbet Zanuta – and prevent entry by other parties operating there to incite and provoke confrontation and conflict.”
Meir Deutsch, Director General of Regavim, wrote: “Maintaining Israeli governance and enforcing the law in Area C of Judea and Samaria is a national imperative, a top-tier security interest, and a sacred duty to sites that bear witness to Jewish history and world cultural heritage. We call for swift and immediate enforcement procedures to complete the evacuation of the squatters and ensure that the State does not lose control of this important site. Criminals and hostile elements must not be given a free hand to deface the site and erase thousands of years of archaeological remains, nor should the IDF enable them to trample the rule of law, harm the interests of the State of Israel in Judea and Samaria and defame the citizens of Israel in the media.”
