Construction on a section of the Israeli security barrier in the East Jerusalem village of Abu Dis severely damaged a sixth-seventh-century Byzantine monastery, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The IAA issued a statement saying that Israeli Defense Ministry workers launched their bulldozers before first consulting with the IAA; the Defense Ministry, however, insists that it operated within existing guidelines and had alerted archaeologists to the remains at the site. IAA Jerusalem district archaeologist Jon Seligman told BAR that although the IAA had had no plans to fully excavate the area, it had been planing to conduct a […]
