HovitosKing
Well-known member
Anyone read about this, or have any updated news? There was a recent follow-up article in the March/April 2006 issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review, but there has apparently been no progress since the following statement was issued on the BAR website a while back:
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Israel?s Archaeological Council Condemns Antiquities Authority; Worldwide Scholars Protest Eshel Arrest
"As we reported on page 62 of the January/February BAR, the prominent Israeli Dead Sea Scroll scholar Hanan Eshel is being pursued criminally at the instigation of Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) director Shuka Dorfman for purchasing (with funds provided by his university) looted fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls from Judean Desert Bedouin. Eshel promptly published the scroll fragments in a scholarly journal and donated the fragments to the IAA. This was no deterrence to Dorfman, a retired general without any archaeological experience or background prior to his political appointment as director. Dorfman is apparently determined to have Eshel prosecuted.
At a meeting on Sunday (a workday in Israel), November 13, Israel?s Archaeological Council, which is highest official archaeological body charged with advising the IAA, unanimously protested Dorfman?s action against Eshel. Dorfman, who attended the meeting, rejected the protest.
On Friday, November 18 an advertisement was published in the Israel newspaper Ha?aretz similarly protesting the action against Eshel. The ad charged the IAA with sending television crews to take pictures of Eshel coming out of the police station in order to embarrass the scholar. The ad said this kind of behavior should ?not to be tolerated.?
After calling the IAA?s action ?absurd,? the ad concluded, ?We are convinced that Eshel rescued the scroll fragments, which otherwise could have been lost. His treatment as an ordinary criminal is a vengeful act?unwise, unfair and unparalleled in the attitude of a public institution toward a scientist.?
The protest was signed by 58 leading academics, including Joseph Aviram, the long-time secretary of the Israel Exploration Society, Magen Broshi, the former curator of the Shrine of the Book where the original Dead Sea Scrolls are housed, and Michal Dayagi-Mendels, head curator of archaeology at the Israel Museum. It was also signed by leading archaeologists and scholars from Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa, Ben Gurion University in Beer-Sheva and Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv.
The protest was also signed by a number of leading American scholars, including Harvard?s Frank Moore Cross, the doyen of American Dead Sea Scroll scholars, and New York University ?s Lawrence Schiffman, former head of the Association for Jewish Studies.
According to a recent article in the Israeli magazine Eretz, ?Most Israeli archaeologists and researchers agree that the charges against Eshel are purely a vindictive attempt by the IAA to show the academic community who is in charge. And, of course, the IAA is also unhappy about the fact that the credit for the find goes to Eshel and not to it.?
As of December 5, the police have informed Dorfman that he is free to explain what lies behind his pursuit of Eshel, but so far no explanation has been forthcoming from the IAA director who rarely speaks to the press."
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Israel?s Archaeological Council Condemns Antiquities Authority; Worldwide Scholars Protest Eshel Arrest
"As we reported on page 62 of the January/February BAR, the prominent Israeli Dead Sea Scroll scholar Hanan Eshel is being pursued criminally at the instigation of Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) director Shuka Dorfman for purchasing (with funds provided by his university) looted fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls from Judean Desert Bedouin. Eshel promptly published the scroll fragments in a scholarly journal and donated the fragments to the IAA. This was no deterrence to Dorfman, a retired general without any archaeological experience or background prior to his political appointment as director. Dorfman is apparently determined to have Eshel prosecuted.
At a meeting on Sunday (a workday in Israel), November 13, Israel?s Archaeological Council, which is highest official archaeological body charged with advising the IAA, unanimously protested Dorfman?s action against Eshel. Dorfman, who attended the meeting, rejected the protest.
On Friday, November 18 an advertisement was published in the Israel newspaper Ha?aretz similarly protesting the action against Eshel. The ad charged the IAA with sending television crews to take pictures of Eshel coming out of the police station in order to embarrass the scholar. The ad said this kind of behavior should ?not to be tolerated.?
After calling the IAA?s action ?absurd,? the ad concluded, ?We are convinced that Eshel rescued the scroll fragments, which otherwise could have been lost. His treatment as an ordinary criminal is a vengeful act?unwise, unfair and unparalleled in the attitude of a public institution toward a scientist.?
The protest was signed by 58 leading academics, including Joseph Aviram, the long-time secretary of the Israel Exploration Society, Magen Broshi, the former curator of the Shrine of the Book where the original Dead Sea Scrolls are housed, and Michal Dayagi-Mendels, head curator of archaeology at the Israel Museum. It was also signed by leading archaeologists and scholars from Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa, Ben Gurion University in Beer-Sheva and Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv.
The protest was also signed by a number of leading American scholars, including Harvard?s Frank Moore Cross, the doyen of American Dead Sea Scroll scholars, and New York University ?s Lawrence Schiffman, former head of the Association for Jewish Studies.
According to a recent article in the Israeli magazine Eretz, ?Most Israeli archaeologists and researchers agree that the charges against Eshel are purely a vindictive attempt by the IAA to show the academic community who is in charge. And, of course, the IAA is also unhappy about the fact that the credit for the find goes to Eshel and not to it.?
As of December 5, the police have informed Dorfman that he is free to explain what lies behind his pursuit of Eshel, but so far no explanation has been forthcoming from the IAA director who rarely speaks to the press."