Tel Beit Shemesh: Reducing the Damage

Recently, a long and protracted media campaign was conducted to preserve Tel Beit Shemesh and to change the construction plans of the new Route 38. This campaign included a petition demanding that the planning authorities save the site, tours and events held in the area to raise public awareness of the findings discovered on the site, and Mayor Aliza Bloch's request to the Ministry of Transportation to find alternatives to the route of the road so as not to harm the site. As a result of these efforts, significant changes to the plans have been agreed upon.

According to a report in Ha'aretz, Netivei Israel has agreed to significantly reduce the width of the road in the section that crosses Tel Beit Shemesh, after archaeologists warned that it may bury rare and unusual findings from the First Temple Period that were discovered there. The Antiquities Authority claims that according to an agreement reached between the IAA CEO and the CEO of Netivei Israel, the width of the road will be reduced from 80 meters to only 20.

A number of weeks ago, a tour was held at the site, attended by the CEO of Netivei Israel and other senior officials, together with the Antiquities Authority. At the end of the tour, a proposal was offered to reduce the road to about one-quarter of its planned width without a reduction in the number of lanes. The Israel Antiquities Authority was satisfied with the proposal, but expressed their wish for a complete divergence of Route 38, since even in its most narrowest design, it will cut through the center of the ancient settlement and cover significant portions of the discoveries.

Netivei Israel, on the other hand, has stated that plans for the road were being re-examined in light of the findings, but has not yet confirmed reports that the road will be reduced.