On 30 September 2020, Salah Hussein Al-Houdalieh and Hasan Jamal published a new study in Al-Iber from Historical and Archaeological Studies, titled "The social impacts of antiquities looting: the case of a deadly feud in Palestine". The article aimed to highlight the social risks of antiquities looting, to both the looters themselves and for the civil order and well-being of the larger community. The results of this study demonstrated that despite all efforts made by the Palestinians to combat antiquities looting since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, the country's entire archaeological heritage is at serious risk. The activities of antiquities looting throughout Palestine during the last few decades have resulted in irreparable damage to the vast majority of the archaeological sites and features; in the extraction of more than 8 million archaeological objects, almost all of which have found their way into the illegal antiquities market; and in the eruption of disputes, both major and minor, between the antiquities looters and landowners. We are aware that all these previous conflicts were resolved without any real physical harm to individuals and/or properties. However, at present we have witnessed a truly deadly incident of a kind unprecedented in the long history of antiquities looting, at least on the Palestinian scene.
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