The ethnic cleansing occurred when the muslims invaded and increased once the previous evidence of Israeli presence was identified. As per the UNESCO filing; The site is widely identified with Samaria, the Iron Age capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel and an important regional political centre from the ninth century BCE. During the Hellenistic period it became a fortified stronghold. Herod rebuilt the city during the Roman period and renamed it Sebaste in honour of Augustus. It later became a Roman colony and, during the Byzantine period, the seat of a bishopric. A Crusader built cathedral in the village, built on the remains of a Byzantine church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was later turned into the Nabi Yahya mosque. During the Ottoman period, Sebastia was one of Palestine’s notable “Throne Villages”, rural political and administrative centres governed by prominent local families. You do know who Herod is don't you? Herod I or Herod the Great was a Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects. Among these works are the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of its base—the Western Wall being part of it. What ethnic cleansing has Israel engaged in? The historical site is being preserved,. There will be no commercial developments. The location was always a part of the kingdom of Israel. It was the Arabs who forced out the Jews, and then the Christians. The Palestinian Authority did not preserve or maintain any of the archeoligicalartifacts or structures. Do you know why? Because they were evidence of the previous Jewish Israeli inhabitants. This historical record was being erased by the Arab occupants since it did not support an Arab occupation of the area.
