Official PA daily: Israel occupies the Negev (region in southern Israel)
“Israel Antiquities Authority workers found it hard to restrain themselves as the complete mosaic floor began to emerge at the site of their archeological salvage operations in southern Israel. They realized they were facing a site over 1,500 years old, and that they had discovered a Byzantine mosaic from between the 4th and 6th centuries CE, during salvage operations ahead of the construction of an intersection on a main highway in the Negev – but what emerged from the earth surpassed their expectations…
In recent years, the Israel Antiquities Authority has discovered numerous Byzantine-period sites in the Negev desert, including – in addition to churches – synagogues from the same period, built beside the churches. It is known that several synagogues from the Byzantine and early Islamic periods exist in Palestine, including the Shahwan Synagogue (i.e., the Shalom Al-Yisrael Synagogue) in Jericho. The Israeli [Antiquities] Authority’s efforts to search for an ancient Jewish history have resulted in nothing more than the discovery of these synagogues – whose existence reflects, according to all opinions, what can be described as tolerance during the period of transition between the end of Byzantine rule and the arrival of the Muslim Arabs in Palestine.…
The [founding] father of the State of Israel, David Ben Gurion, dreamed of turning the Negev desert into a paradise in which Jews would live; therefore, the Zionist gangs embarked on an ethnic cleansing operation which included most of the Arabs. The Israeli authorities treated those who remained like Indians, concentrating them on special ‘reservations.’ Every community outside the reservations was considered ‘illegal…’
Every conqueror and invader who reached this desert either regarded it differently (i.e., saw its potential) – as did, for example, the Nabateans, who built a series of forts on the Incense and Spice route…– or neglected it, allowing its tribes to either fight or make peace with each other, as the Ottomans did, or tried to take control of it, as the new occupiers are doing.”
In recent years, the Israel Antiquities Authority has discovered numerous Byzantine-period sites in the Negev desert, including – in addition to churches – synagogues from the same period, built beside the churches. It is known that several synagogues from the Byzantine and early Islamic periods exist in Palestine, including the Shahwan Synagogue (i.e., the Shalom Al-Yisrael Synagogue) in Jericho. The Israeli [Antiquities] Authority’s efforts to search for an ancient Jewish history have resulted in nothing more than the discovery of these synagogues – whose existence reflects, according to all opinions, what can be described as tolerance during the period of transition between the end of Byzantine rule and the arrival of the Muslim Arabs in Palestine.…
The [founding] father of the State of Israel, David Ben Gurion, dreamed of turning the Negev desert into a paradise in which Jews would live; therefore, the Zionist gangs embarked on an ethnic cleansing operation which included most of the Arabs. The Israeli authorities treated those who remained like Indians, concentrating them on special ‘reservations.’ Every community outside the reservations was considered ‘illegal…’
Every conqueror and invader who reached this desert either regarded it differently (i.e., saw its potential) – as did, for example, the Nabateans, who built a series of forts on the Incense and Spice route…– or neglected it, allowing its tribes to either fight or make peace with each other, as the Ottomans did, or tried to take control of it, as the new occupiers are doing.”