Conference drops archaeologist from occupied West Bank

An Israeli archaeologist based at Ariel University, located in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, had his lecture at an international conference in Denmark cancelled last week, following pressure from fellow researchers, writes Oren Ziv for +972 Magazine.

However, a lecture by a doctoral student, also based at Ariel University, went ahead as planned. Unlike other conference participants, whose institutional affiliations were listed alongside their names in the programme, the pair – Professor David Ben Shlomo and Yair Elmakias, both of the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology – did not have their attachment to Ariel University cited.

The International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE) – held every two years and considered one of the two most prestigious gatherings on the subject – was held in Copenhagen from 22-26 May. This year’s conference, its 13th gathering, featured around 20 participants from Israel, coming from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Haifa, Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The fact that two researchers from a settlement university were invited is noteworthy, both because the institution is located in occupied territory, and because excavating in an occupied area is considered a violation under international law.
Full report on the +972 Magazine site