Police seize ancient scroll
Israeli police seized a 2,000-year-old Hebrew scroll from two Palestinians. The men were arrested for trying to illegally sell the valuable antiquity. The Hebrew document is written on papyrus and measures about 6 inches by 6 inches. The document is written in ancient Hebrew script, which is characteristic of the Second Temple period and shortly thereafter, and is primarily known from the Dead Sea Scrolls and inscriptions found on ossuaries and coffins. The document is dated with the sentence “Year 4 to the destruction of Israel.” “What we have here is rare historic evidence about the Jewish people in their country from more than 2,000 years ago, during the days following the destruction which sent the people of Israel into exile for a very long time – until the creation of the State of Israel,” said Amir Ganor, director of the unit for the prevention of antiquities robbery in the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The scroll will undergo laboratory analyses to negate the possibility it’s a forgery.
Arab peace plan amended
Arabs states are revising the Saudi peace initiative to make it more palatable to Israel, according to an Arabic-language newspaper. The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reported that the moderate Arab nations are making the amendments at the request of U.S. President Barack Obama and that some of the changes involve the demand for the right of return for Palestinian refugees. The changes also will set a timetable for normalizing relations between Israel and the Arab countries in the region, if Israel withdraws to pre-1967 borders. The amended plan, being co-ordinated by Jordan’s King Abdullah, will be presented to Obama when he meets Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Washington.
– JTA and Ha’aretz
