Palestinians spray-painted pro-Hamas graffiti on and set fire to an ancient Jewish synagogue south of Chevron in Yehuda on Thursday morning.
The Eshtemoa Shul, which dates to around the fourth to fifth century C.E., is located in as-Samu, some 7.5 miles south of Chevron and 37 miles southwest of Yerushalayim.
The Civil Administration, Israel’s governing body in Yehuda and Shomron, coordinated a Palestinian firefighting effort to extinguish the flames.
“This is a terrorist act in every sense and should be treated as such. It is an attempt to erase the Jewish identity and symbols from our ancestral lands,” said the head of the Mount Chevron Regional Council, Eliram Azulai, according to Ynet.
Eshtemoa was an ancient city mentioned in Sefer Yehoshua (Yehoshua 21:14). During the Roman and Byzantine periods, Eshtemoa was described as a large Jewish village.
In March, Palestinian construction workers built an illegal road through the ancient village of Sebastia, near Shechem in Shomron, causing damage to an Israeli heritage site, according to Israeli NGO Regavim.
It was also reported in March that Palestinians had flattened Umm ar-Rihan, a Second Beis Hamikdash-era site located near the security barrier in northern Shomron.
“Since the start of the Gaza war, we have been seeing increasing attempts to destroy Jewish heritage sites throughout Yehuda and Shomron, and it’s our duty to continue to fight for our history even while fighting for our home,” said Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu at the time.
(JNS)