Syrians accuse Russians of helping Israel find or fake Jewish antiquities in Palmyra

The paranoia of Arabs about ancient Jewish presence in the Middle East has reached a new level of absurdity. From Syria's Zaman al-Wasl:

Well-informed sources revealed to Zaman al-Wasl that secret excavation operations in the historic city of Palmyra are underway, aiming to find claimed Jewish antiquities backed by Russia which has the upper hand in the city.

The sources said controversy over the nature of some activities in Palmyra following arrival of 3 unknown experts in Palmyra. They move in Palmyra in great reservation protected by Russian soldiers. They do not communicate with Syrian employees, but only communicate with Russians via an interpreter.

The doubts have deepened after knowing the points on which the experts have been focusing in their tours of excavations. The excavated sites are brought up often by Israelis referring to it in their talks claiming it includes Hebrew engravings and antiquities. They could use to prove their historical presence in the region according to their common tactic in dealing with different cities.

The sources start in their talk to Zaman al-Wasl from the minute the Russians came into Palmyra after they expelled ISIS. Russians hastened to spread and create a base in Palmyra’s historical sites until they established a camp and military base inside the archeological area.

In Palmyra, according to the sources, the Russian soldiers and intelligence worked for a duration with Syrian regime mercenaries and soldiers. During that period, they were partners in robbing and selling archeological artifacts according to their power and military presence; however, this partnership did not last long as Russians revealed their intentions fast. They excluded the regime and singled out power for themselves in the heart of the historical city which is considered a museum full of treasures and antiquities rare to find in the world.

The sources said the experts are communicating with Russian exclusively via an interpreter. Their work is limited to mostly searching for Jewish engravings that might be a document to place Palmyra on the lıst of Jewısh cities according to what they are seeking.

The experts focus their activities, according to our sources, on the following areas: al-Naser Arch, Bel Temple, Baalshamin Temple, Diocletian camp. They performed big excavations in some of these areas aiming to reach deeper layers that have not been reached before by previous excavation missions.

Some excavations resulted in discovering a mummy and an amount of gold in the area next to al-Naser Arch according to the sources who confirmed that experts continue excavations under al-Naser Arch and in the street extending to the theater and Bel Temple. They are tirelessly searching for stone tombs that might carry Hebrew engravings.

The sources strongly indicated the deliberate destruction which al-Naser Arch, Bel Temple, and Baalshamin Temple were exposed to might have been planned to pave the way for the excavations of the unknown experts. The reason is that digging on deep layers before destruction might have damaged these sites and no party would have dared to do so before, whereas they can do that now under pretext of restoring the sites.

In fact, Palmyra had a significant Jewish population in ancient times and up through the 12th century at least when Benjamin of Tudela visited. One house famously has verses of the Shema in Hebrew on its doorpost, in an apparent method to build a mezuzah directly into it.

But as we've seen with Jordan, the Arabs are so paranoid about "Greater Israel" that they believe that Jews are constantly trying to take over their lands by pretending that they are in fact historically Jewish areas.

Apparently the Russians are just as much pawns of this evil Jewish game as the Americans are.

And so, of course, is ISIS. Last year when ISIS controlled the city and was assumed to be destroying all ancient artifacts, Syrian and Iraqi scholars said that this was all part of an "international Jewish mafia" plot  to erase all traces of Arab culture from the city and replace it with Jewish antiquities.

(h/t Yoel)

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