Excavation work at the ancient Jewish cemetery in Acco ceased
last Sunday (23 Cheshvan) and the mass demonstration
scheduled to take place in Jerusalem that afternoon was
cancelled. Engineering solutions to the problem are currently
being evaluated and discussions on how to prevent grave
desecration are expected to continue for the next two weeks.
At a meeting on Monday Transportation Minister Meir Shitreet,
Government Secretary Yisrael Maimon and MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni
agreed to set up a joint team comprised of rabbonim and
representatives of the Association for the Prevention of
Grave Desecration, the Transportation Ministry and the Prime
Minister’s Office by Tuesday. The team is slated to meet in
the near future to work out solutions to prevent the
desecration of the graves in Acco.
On Sunday morning inspectors were stationed at the digging
site. Rabbi Michah Rothschild, chairman of the Association
for the Prevention of Grave Desecration, confirmed that the
digging was discontinued after a directive from Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon reached the onsite archaeologists.
The mainstream media presented the matter as an act of
"capitulation by the Prime Minister to the chareidi public"
and a response to "chareidi pressure." When the Prime
Minister heard that Maran HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv,
shlita, planned to attend the demonstration—a
rare departure from his normal practice and a strong
indication of how seriously he viewed the issue—he
dispatched Government Secretary Yisrael Maimon to HaRav
Eliashiv's home to give notice that orders had been issued to
stop the digging.
Hours later Transportation Minister Meir Shetreet invited
Maimon and Degel HaTorah Secretary MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni to an
initial meeting on Monday in order to set up a team of
representatives from the Association for the Prevention of
Grave Desecration, the Transportation Ministry and the
Antiquities Authority whose task is to find an engineering
solution to prevent further grave desecration at the site.
When the archaeologists at the site stopped destroying the
ancient graves, left with no work to do they began to tell
reporters about "concrete facts" supposedly indicating the
graves were from the Roman period and were not Jewish. In
interviews they noted skeletons of Roman soldiers, women and
children had been found, yet this claim contradicts the
historical fact the Roman army controlling Eretz Yisroel was
comprised of soldiers alone.
Rabbi Rothschild said the matter of the Jewishness of the
cemetery is not open to serious debate since dozens of
ancient books clearly state that an ancient cemetery for the
Jews of Acco is located beneath Napoleon Hill and because the
positioning of the graves is clearly indicative of Jewish
burial practices. Among those buried at the cemetery these
books mention Devorah Hanevioh, Elozor HaChashmonai, R'
Shimon Maintz, R' Yechiel of Paris and R' Yosef of Shanosh, a
talmid of the Ramban. In more recent times 30 Jews
were buried there following a shipwreck in 1918. Later,
British authorities removed their gravestones.
The archaeologists' "scientific" claims also contradict books
written during the past century by Eretz Yisroel researchers
containing quotes indicating that important Jewish figures
lie buried at Tel Alpochar, Tel Hecharasim and Tel Acco,
which are also known as Napoleon Hill. Rabbi Rothschild says
that all of the so-called proofs the archaeologists cite have
no basis in fact and rely on highly unlikely speculation.
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz (Shinui) attacked Sharon's
decision during a government meeting, saying it was made "to
avoid unnecessary tension." Addressing the Prime Minister he
lamented "that you capitulate to extreme, fanatic groups and
delay the construction of the interchange. The delay
endangers human lives."
Jews around the world voiced strident opposition to the grave
desecration last week, saying the Israeli government
regularly denounces acts of vandalism in Jewish cemeteries in
Europe and elsewhere while officially allowing blatant
desecration of Jewish grave sites in Eretz Yisroel. Most
authorities say that non-Jewish should also not be
desecrated.
