The chief editor of Palestinian Exploration Quarterly (PEQ), a leading academic journal in the field of archaeology, confirmed to The Press Service of Israel that it effectively blacklists research from Judea and Samaria. Israeli experts told TPS-IL that conditions set by the magazine for publishing research are impossible to meet.
PEQ can publish articles on the archaeology of Judea and Samaria, which the journal refers to as the “West Bank” or “the Occupied Palestinian Territories”, when the authors “have cooperated with the relevant Palestinian authorities to do so.”
However, Israeli archaeologists told TPS-IL that this condition is impossible to meet.
“There is no cooperation with the Palestinian Authority in the field of archaeology in Judea and Samaria, but not because the Israelis don’t want it, ” said Bar-Ilan University archaeologist Dvir Raviv.
TPS-IL reported that Israeli researchers find themselves effectively blacklisted by the international academic community, unable to publish findings from some of history’s most significant sites. The politics-driven policies of the academic archaeological world result in the erasing of biblical history, while the Palestinian Authority’s deliberate efforts to wipe out evidence of the Jewish connection to the land imperils sites of tremendous historical value, archaeologists said.
This is further disturbing evidence of how the Palestinians create and support their own distorted narrative for their sole goal to delegitimize Israel.