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Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan and Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Struck

10,000 March to Joshua's Altar to Protect Judea and Samaria Archaeological Sites

Some 10,000 people marched to Joshua’s Altar on Mt. Ebal on Monday, October 2, to demand protection for archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria and protest against declarations of sites in the region as “Palestinian heritage sites,” according to the Samaria Regional Council.

Mt. Ebal, located north of Nablus in northern Judea and Samaria, is believed to be the site where an altar was built by the Israelites shortly after they entered the Land of Israel after the Exodus. According to Deuteronomy, Moses instructed the tribes to gather on Mt. Ebal and a mountain situated across from it called Mt. Gerizim, with the Levites pronouncing a curse toward Mt. Ebal and a blessing toward Mt. Gerizim.

In the past year, settler groups have repeatedly warned of attempts by the Palestinian Authority to damage the site, including plans to build a new neighborhood on the mountain and to pave over the ancient altar at the site.

During the march on Monday, Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan stated “In the face of the barbaric destruction that the Palestinian Authority is trying to carry out here, all this to erase the connection of the people of Israel to their land and their roots, we stand here and we say - the people of Israel will win.”

“We respect every people, every human being, but the Land of Israel and the State of Israel will exercise our sovereignty here, and in this place on Mt. Ebal, at the altar of Joshua ben Nun, there will be a heritage site worthy of a central place in the history of the people of Israel,” added Dagan. (JPost / VFI News)

“And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God.” - Deuteronomy 27:4-6