Selective Justice

Heritage artifacts that are thousands of years old are treasured objects of antiquity and cultural reverence. They should always be in the possession of the countries for whom their meaning transcends the merely 'antique'. The essence of their beauty and uniqueness, the meaning of their heritage value represent the present celebrating the past, acknowledging it for the bridge it represents between past and present.

The Elgin marbles being held by Great Britain remain embraced by that country, although they should be returned to Greece. Heritage objects of value to Canada's aboriginals were recently returned to them. Egyptian obelisks that represent huge cultural value to the country where they were made, exist as antique treasures elsewhere in the world. But then Egyptian history is rich in mummified remains, many of which are scattered in museums all over the world.

The Dead Sea Scrolls represent a similar, albeit singular treasure of antiquity. And there are not many of those treasured bits and pieces of ancient script on animal skin (vellum) to be found. They are directly and unmistakably linked to ancient Israelites, to the Middle Eastern tribes who proclaimed their allegiance to the then-remarkable differentiation in religious belief; monotheism.

These fragments reveal their heritage; written in Paleo Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, (languages known to have been used by learned Jews of the period) and vastly pre-existing Judaism's offshoot, and much younger religions, Christianity and Islam. Their content reveals ancient scriptures written by a priestly caste to comprise the Old Testament. Expert testimony has attested that these fragments faithfully recorded the very scriptures that are the basis of Judaism.

It is a lunatic assertion that the ancient fragments are illegally in the possession of Israel's Antiquities Authority, as the Palestinian Authority and its various supporters have feverishly been claiming, through their propaganda machinery. The fragments which are currently on loan to Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum for a special show, belong to the people and the country that represent world Jewry; it represents their particular heritage, religion and culture.

Groups who support the Palestinians' claim to ownership of the Dead Sea Scrolls are deliberately ignorant of the fact that there is no basis for the claim of ownership by Arab Muslims of a Jewish religious-cultural heritage item of ancient antiquity. The original Palestinians were known to themselves as inhabitants of the land Arab Palestinians now claim as their own, and they were Jews.

Canadian leftist groups, ignoring reality and embracing ideology, pursue their twisted agenda that simply fits quite nicely with that of a group portraying themselves as underdogs in an unequal battle for property rights; territorial and heritage.