The Israeli government has launched an investigation to determine whether the Biden administration violated any international law, including the Oslo Accords, when it sent a historical artifact to Palestinian authorities last month.
The investigation was launched after the United States sent a spoon dating back 2,700 years to the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on January 5, in what the US State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs said was ” the first event of such a repatriation”. from the United States to the Palestinians.
Israel’s Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu’s office said the legality of the repatriation “is being examined by the archeology staff officer with legal counsel, who will look into all aspects of the matter, including the Oslo Accords which states United has signed.
It is not immediately clear what impact, if any, a review by the ministry’s legal counsel might have. It is unlikely that Israel will be able to confiscate the artifact, but it could enact a policy affecting future repatriations.
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A 2,700-year-old ivory incense spoon on display at the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Thursday, January 19, 2023.
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
The artifact, an ivory incense spoon, is believed to have been smuggled out of the West Bank and later purchased by billionaire New York hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt.
It was one of 180 artifacts seized by the Manhattan district attorney’s office in late 2021 as part of a deal with Steinhardt to avoid prosecution.
According to court documents, Steinhardt purchased the ivory cosmetic spoon in 2003 from Israeli antiquities dealer Gil Chaya for $6,000. The artifact had no provenance (documents detailing where it came from and how it got into the dealer’s inventory), but Chaya said the object was from the West Bank city of El-Koum, which is under Palestinian Authority control.
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Dozens of the artifacts delivered by Steinhardt have already been repatriated to Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Jordan, Libya and Israel.
A 2,700-year-old ivory incense spoon looted from a site in the occupied West Bank.
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
The spoon was the only item repatriated to the Palestinians among the collection, and a historic first for the US.
Another artifact in Steinhardt’s collection, a “Red Cornalian Sun Fish amulet (that) dates to around 600 BCE,” is believed to have been taken from the same town as the spoon but remains missing, according to the office of the fiscal. It will be repatriated to the Palestinians, the office said.
The repatriation coincided with the first weeks of Israel’s new government, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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The return of the artifact is the latest standoff between Israel and the West Bank’s Palestinian governing body, underscoring how archeology and cultural heritage intertwine with their competing claims to territory.
“Any artifact that we know has left Palestine illegally, we have the right to recover it,” said Jihad Yassin, director general of excavations and museums at the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. “Each artifact tells a story from the history of this land.”
The dispute over the artifacts comes as Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu was recently sworn in as Israeli prime minister.
(MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
The ministry operates within the Palestinian Authority, the government of parts of the West Bank that was established as part of the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.
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Agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, like the Oslo Accords, were supposed to include coordination on issues including archeology and cultural heritage.
Jihad Yassin, director general of excavations and museums at the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, holds a 2,700-year-old ivory incense spoon.
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Many of the deals have fallen apart because the two parties often quarreled. Israel also operates in the West Bank and has disputed claims to heritage sites.
US authorities returned 28 items to Israel last year.
Associated Press contributed to this report
