Palestinians have accused Israel of an “abominable act of thuggery and cultural appropriation” after a 1500-year-old Christian relic was “stolen” by Israeli forces early on Monday. Video footage posted online by the PLO Department of Public Diplomacy and Policy showed Israeli forces escorting a large flatbed truck out from the town of Tuqu, in the occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem. The rare artefact, which dates back to the Byzantine period, was used as a water basin for baptisms and is one of three known relics of its kind. The other two include one recently discovered at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and another belonging to a church in Beit Jibrin, an ancient Palestinian town left in ruins following Israel’s 1948 invasion.
— source middleeasteye.net | 20 Jul 2020