Israel, with US patronage, uses archaeology as a tool for settler-colonialism in al-Quds

By Yousef Ramazani

The ceremonial unveiling of the fully excavated 'Pilgrimage Road' in occupied Jerusalem al-Quds's City of David on Monday was orchestrated as a spectacle of international endorsement for a project rooted in occupation, apartheid and extermination of Palestinians. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, lending America's diplomatic support to a deeply controversial archaeological site managed by Elad, a Zionist settler organization.

The event was framed as a celebration of a monumental achievement in biblical archaeology, a 600-meter first-century stone pathway connecting the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount.

For the assembled dignitaries, the tunnel represented a tangible reconnection to the footsteps of Second Temple pilgrims, a narrative powerfully evoked in their speeches.

Yet, the location of this ceremony—in the heart of the predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem—transformed the event into a scandalous political theater.

The choice of venue and the high-profile American participation sent an unambiguous message of support for Israeli territorial claims over the area, directly contravening international law and the longstanding official US position on the status of occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.

International reactions

The event provoked immediate and fierce backlash from a wide spectrum of Palestinian leaders, human rights organizations, and international diplomats, who collectively condemned it as a provocative act of cultural and political erasure of Palestinians.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas characterized the ceremony as a blatant attempt to rewrite history and legitimize the ongoing occupation, accusing the Israeli regime of using archaeology as a tool for the systematic Judaization of East Jerusalem.

This sentiment was echoed by prominent Palestinian diplomat Hanan Ashrawi, who decried the event on social media as an exposition of the unholy alliance between Zionist expansionism and American complicity, framing it as a desecration of shared heritage under the deceptive guise of biblical revival.

From within the Zionist entity, critical voices like archaeologist Yonathan Mizrachi highlighted how the unveiling transformed a scientific site into a stage for Zionists, arguing that the participation of high-ranking US officials effectively emboldens Israeli annexation efforts in occupied East Jerusalem.

International bodies joined the chorus of disapproval, with a UN Special Rapporteur labeling the project a clear case of archaeological weaponization and international human rights watchdogs condemning it as part of a broader systematic erasure of the Palestinian presence.

Even traditional allies expressed deep concern, with the British Foreign Secretary summoning the Israeli ambassador to protest the ceremony's timing and its detrimental impact on peace efforts, underscoring the significant diplomatic fallout from the event.

Pilgrimage Road

Beneath the rhetoric of historical discovery lies a far more troubling reality for the residents of Silwan, for whom the City of David archaeological park and the Pilgrimage Road tunnel represent not a celebration of heritage but an instrument of their own displacement.

The Elad Foundation, the settler organization that manages the site, has been repeatedly accused by the UN and local peace groups of using archaeology as a pretext to appropriate land and acquire Palestinian homes, pushing for the eviction of families to expand a Jewish presence there.

The excavation of the Pilgrimage Road, which lies beneath Palestinian homes, has been a major flashpoint, with residents reporting structural damage to their properties and a constant sense of insecurity as the regime expands its settler-colonial activities. 

Zionist archaeology

The unveiling of the Pilgrimage Road is a quintessential example of Zionist archaeology, a long-standing practice that fuses scholarship with the regime's ideology to transform ancient artifacts into tools for modern territorial claims.

This approach to archaeology is rooted in an early 20th-century Zionist effort to prove biblical historicity and affirm a narrative of Jewish return to an allegedly empty land, deliberately ignoring centuries of Palestinian presence on that land. 

In the modern Zionist entity, this has been institutionalized through bodies like the Israel Antiquities Authority, which often partners with settler groups like Elad to prioritize excavations that emphasize Jewish historical layers, particularly from the Iron Age and Second Temple periods, while marginalizing or outright erasing other historical epochs.

The stated goal is to construct a seamless teleological narrative of ancient Jewish glory, exile, and modern Zionist redemption, a narrative that is then used to justify present-day sovereignty and illegal settlement expansion in occupied territories.

Experts argue that this process selectively interprets often scant archaeological evidence to fabricate a simplified history, dismissing contradictory data and privileging a politically useful story over academic rigor and ethical responsibility towards all layers of the region's rich, multicultural past.

US role in legitimizing annexation

The presence of the top American diplomat at this particular event signifies a profound and dangerous shift in American foreign policy, moving from a traditionally complex stance to one of overt and unconditional endorsement of Israeli territorial ambitions.

By describing the site as one of the most important on the planet and emphasizing its deep meaning to Americans, Rubio provided a layer of international legitimacy to a project that is intrinsically linked to the violation of international law and the displacement of a protected population under occupation.

This action aligns with the broader pattern of the American policy, under the current administration, to recognize Israeli sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem al-Quds and to shield the Israeli regime from diplomatic consequences for its settlement enterprise.

The participation of Ambassador Huckabee, who infused the ceremony with evangelical Christian Zionist rhetoric, further illustrates how US support is increasingly driven by a domestic political constituency that views the project through a theological lens of biblical prophecy rather than a pragmatic lens of international law and human rights.

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