The remains of hundreds of Bayis Sheini-era Jews who were buried in the Yericho area were re-interred on Tuesday in the nearby settlement of Kfar Adumim, after they were found scattered outside tombs damaged by Palestinian agricultural work in the area.

According to the pro-settlement group Regavim, the tombs were �looted by Arab grave-robbers.�

The remains were discovered several days before Pesach, by �Preserving the Eternal� volunteers hiking near the Hasmonean Palace in Jericho, one of the world’s oldest cities.�They were horrified by what they found: The cave�s burial niches were severely damaged, and countless human skulls, skeletons, and scattered bones were strewn over the freshly-turned earth. They were told by the local farmers that the sarcophagi (ancient caskets) from which the bones were removed had recently �disappeared.�

It appeared the remains�had been exposed by heavy machinery – used by local Arabs to level the ground for illegal agricultural use.

Hundreds attended a Levaya for the remains, including residents from nearby�Jewish communities, rabbinic leaders, senior�officials from the Defense Ministry�s Civil Administration and other public figures.

The Levaya was organized by archaeologists from the Civil Administration and the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council.

Regavim director Meir Deutsch called the burial �an act of true grace, not only toward the remains of our ancestors but to our heritage and our history, which are being brutally trampled by the Palestinian Authority � in Jericho and in thousands of other archaeological sites throughout Judea and Samaria, the land of the Bible and the cradle of Jewish culture,� according to quotes from the funeral released by Regavim.

Mateh Binyamin Council head Yisrael Gantz blasted the �greedy, callous thieves who have no respect for human dignity [and] laid their hands on the remains of our ancestors.’�

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxx1E4Yg6KL/