Haaretz has an interesting article today about a site I’ve never heard of, with connection to a biblical story about which I know of no other archaeological evidence.

A wooden sign stands at the entrance to the dirt road leading to the Segev Forest in the Western Galilee, inscribed with the symbol of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Beneath it in fading gr een letters is the name “Rosh Zayit Ruin.” Without perusing the entrance to the dirt road carefully, you might not see the weed-covered sign, and not realize that this is the entrance to a very special archaeological site….
“The excavations Dr. Zvi Gal carried out at the beginning of the 1990s solved a very complex puzzle about King Solomon and Hiram, king of Phoenicia,” says Mordechai Aviam, director of the Galilee Archaeological Institute.
“A site of a Phoenician nature was built here, a kind of administrative and military center constructed on top of private dwellings from the 11th century. The Phoenician nature of the site bears out the story of King Solomon giving King Hiram portions of the country in exchange for the cedars of Lebanon, with which he built the Temple,” Aviam says, smiling in consideration of the implications the story has for the present-day debate over dividing the land.

The relevant Scripture reference is 1 Kings 9:11-13.  You can read the rest of the brief article here.

Plain of Asher from south

The Israeli government is moving towards making the Mount of Olives a protected national park. 

From Arutz-7:

The Knesset has taken the first step towards legislating the establishment of a new national authority that will preserve, rebuild and protect the ancient Mt. of Olives cemetery.  The bill has passed its preliminary reading, and is being prepared for its additional readings….Without a national body coordinating efforts on the site’s behalf, “there is no one to preserve it, and no one to prevent illegal construction and vandalism there.” 
Mt. of Olives overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, and its summit is crowned by the Intercontinental Hotel. An estimated 20,000 gravesites remain in the ancient cemetery, out of some 70,000 – according to the lower estimates – that were there before the Jordanians took control of the site in 1948….
Of late, vandalism of Mt. of Olives gravestones has been discovered periodically.  Just this past February, MKs of the Knesset’s State Control Committee toured the cemetery for the purpose of examining the many complaints of desecration, graffiti and smashed headstones.  MK Zevulun Orlev (NRP) said at the time, “If such vandalism had occurred in a Jewish cemetery in Europe, it would shock the entire Jewish world; law enforcement authorities would attempt to capture the guilty parties… This is happening in the heart of the capital of Israel, adjacent to the Western Wall, [yet] the sovereign Jewish regime remains apathetic.”
Among the many famous Jewish historical figures buried on the Mt. of Olives are:

• Rabbi Moshe Ben-Nachman (Ramban)
• Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook
• his son Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook
• Israeli Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren
• the Gerrer Rebbes
• Prime Minister Menachem Begin
• Nobel Prize laureate author S. Y. Agnon
• British Chief Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits
• Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the father of modern Hebrew
• terrorist victim Eliyahu Asheri, kidnapped and murdered in 2006
• Aharon Hershler, murdered in 1873 when Arabs burst into his house.

Many Jews through the ages have sought burial there, because the site is mentioned in the Bible as the first spot from which the dead will be brought to life.

Concerning this last point, my understanding is that this view comes from Zechariah 14:3-4:

Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.

Mount of Olives from southwest

I don’t have much to add to this story, but I think that some readers will find it of interest.  “Bnei Menashe” means “sons of Manasseh,” a reference to one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Seventy-eight members of India’s Bnei Menashe community entered Israel by bus from Jordan on Thursday and 40 more were scheduled to arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport early Friday morning on an El Al flight from Mumbai (Bombay)…. Freund said that the “Aliyah” (Jewish immigration to Israel) operation had been coordinated with all relevant government authorities. The Bnei Menashe entered Israel on tourist visas and will undergo conversion to Judaism in Israel. Then they will receive permanent status as citizens…. The Bnei Menashe claim descent from the tribe of Menashe, one of the ten tribes exiled from the Land of Israel by the Assyrian empire over 2,700 years ago. They reside primarily in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, along the border with Burma and Bangladesh. In recent years alone, over 800 members of the community have made Aliyah, thanks largely to the efforts of Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based group that reaches out and assists “lost Jews” seeking to return to the Jewish people. They reside mainly in Kiryat Arba, south of Jerusalem, and Beit El and Ofrah, north of Jerusalem…. The existence of the Bnei Menashe, known in India as the Manmassi tribe, was publicized in the Jewish world about 30 years ago by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichayil. When it was observed that the tribe’s members maintained certain ancient traditions unlike any observed in the Indian subcontinent, investigation revealed that the rituals were of Jewish origin…. Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar sent a delegation of two rabbinic judges to India about three years ago, to conduct a thorough investigation of the community and its origins. After a review of their findings, it was decided that the Bnei Menashe are in fact descendants of Israel and should be drawn closer to the Jewish people.

The full story is here.