The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration announced on Thursday that it had begun the process of designating 1,800 dunams (445 acres) for the preservation and development of the Sebastia archeological site in Samaria.

“The expropriation will be carried out in areas of the archaeological site located in Area C” of Judea and Samaria, which is under Israeli control per the Oslo Accords signed with the Palestinians in the 1990s, it said.

The statement noted that the decision to expropriate was made due to “intentional neglect” by the landowners and the Palestinian Authority .

Israeli officials notified landowners of the start of the process and the transfer of the lands around Sebastia to the management of the Civil Administration’s Archaeology Unit, the Defense Ministry body sa

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