In yet another incident that proves there is a state-run effort within the Palestinian territories to whitewash any evidence of an ancient Jewish presence in the Land of Israel, Palestinian Authority workers arrived earlier this week at an archaeological site in Samaria and completely destroyed it. Pictures taken before and after the incident shows how all the ancient stones that made up the Hasmonean era arch are completely dismantled and scattered all over the ground.

As previously reported by local Jewish papers in Samaria, about two months ago the Palestinian Authority announced the establishment of an archaeological garden in Tel Aroma, which is not far from the arch that was destroyed in the Kedumim area just south of Nablus. Aroma is mentioned in the Bible as a place where the prophet and justice seeker Abimelech ben Gideon lived, and where a Hasmonean fort of large dimensions sat during the Second Temple period.

הפלסטינים שיקרו לצה"ל וסללו כביש לאתר הארכיאולוגי תל ארומה@shilofreid https://t.co/DbEpJL6TVq

— מקור ראשון (@MakorRishon) October 19, 2022

Since 2009, Palestinians have been wreaking havoc across the entire site and are seemingly determined to destroy it. Using the excuse of various construction projects that in fact, have severely damaged the site, and covered up part of it as well.

In response to the Palestinian Authority's announcement that an archaeological garden will be built in Tel Aroma, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, said: "In recent years, we have witnessed a new type of terrorism with a specific goal of harming Jewish history in Samaria.

בזמן שרקדתם בחג שמחת תורה האחרון, בכפר ביתא השלימו את סלילת כביש האספלט לאתר הארכאולוגי תל ארומה שנמצא בתהליכי השתלטות אחרונים לצערנו.

ברקע אפשר לראות את "מסגד השהידים" - בניין בן 6 קומות שנבנה בתל על שרידי המבצר החשמונאי שהתנשא בעבר במקום וחלש על האזור.>> pic.twitter.com/9I0S13OSqI

— יריחו ובית לחם חברון וגם שכם (@shimonhatarsi) October 18, 2022

The Palestinian Authority is working to destroy any historical evidence that Samaria, along with all of Israel, belongs to the Israelites. We saw it in the destruction of Joshua's altar on Mount Ebal, the place where the blessings and curses stood upon the entry of the people of Israel into the land when fleeing Egypt, we saw it in the takeover of Tel Aroma that there is no dispute about the findings found there and related to the Hasmoneans, and we also saw it in other places in Samaria."

New Archaeological Discoveries Confirm Ancient Connection of Israel to the Jewish People
🇮🇱NO 'evidence' of existence of 'Palestinians' prior to 1964, when USSR reinvented Egyptian terrorist Yasser Arafat as "leader" to destroy Israel.'🇮🇱https://t.co/lRbjwymiQU

— (((A. Zionist))) (@a_zionist) July 12, 2022

Now, the Palestinians have damaged another archeological site in Samaria, which has led to much outrage within Israeli media that leans right, but little to no mention in the mainstream Israeli sources. In the photos distributed by the Kedumim local council, you can see the site before and after its destruction.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project recently discovered very rare 4th century BCE Jewish-minted coins inscribed in Hebrew with the word ‘Yehud’. The coins were minted in Jerusalem by Jews during the Persian era & are amongst the earliest coins from Israel.https://t.co/9RAZOiR4yH pic.twitter.com/KGZn3ETCqd

— Act for Israel (@ActForIsrael) May 25, 2018

The CEO of the Yesha Council which operates as the umbrella organization for all Israeli Judea and Samaria local authorities, Yigal Dilmoni, commented on the events, writing: "Antiquities are being destroyed and the State of Israel is silent. All this is happening while the Minister of Defense is making sure to strengthen the PA."

Judea and Samaria have undisputed importance to the Jewish people going back to biblical times. The name Judea is literally given to the area for being the region in ancient Canaan where the Israelite tribe of Juda lived.

"Ingeniously, a Temple Mount sifting project was formed, attracting volunteers to search the dirt for remnants of Jewish history. Thousands of ancient Jewish artifacts have been discovered," writes Jerold Auerbach. https://t.co/ry9v5BvItj

— Algemeiner (@Algemeiner) October 16, 2021

The destruction of the ancestral Jewish presence in Israel is not new, for decades, the Palestinian Authority has tasked crews to dig underneath the Temple Mount to clear the area of any remnants of the Jewish Temple that Rome razed in the first century. The garbage dump they used to toss the dirt in has itself been turned into an archaeological site, with Israelis as well as tourists literally sifting through the dirt to collect whatever they could. In an effort aptly dubbed 'The Temple Mount Sifting Project' so far they have recovered coins, pottery, ornate bone carvings, a fiscal bulla that proves a taxation system in the Judean kingdom among other magnificent finds.