Katika kipindi cha mwanzo wa kisasa, majina ya mahali nchini Palestina yalichangia kuibuka kwa uhakiki wa Biblia. Katika karne ya 17, mwanafalsafa Myahudi mwenye mtazamo wa kiakili, Baruch Spinoza wa Amsterdam, alianzisha mbinu ya kihakiki katika Mafunzo ya Maandiko Matakatifu kwa kuchunguza majina ya mahali huko Palestina na katika Biblia. Akitumia majina ya mahali kutoka Palestina pamoja na hoja nyingine, alihitimisha kwamba, kinyume na imani ya kawaida miongoni mwa Wayahudi na Wakristo, Musa hakuandika Torati, vitabu vitano vya Biblia ya Kiebrania.

In the early modern period Palestinian place names contributed to the rise of biblical criticism. In the 17th century the rationalist Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza of Amsterdam initiated a critical approach to Scriptural Studies by looking at place names in Palestine and the Bible. Using toponyms from Palestine as well as other arguments, he concluded that, contrary to the standard belief among Jews and Christians, Moses did not write the Pentateuch, the five books of the Hebrew Bible.

Majina ya maeneo ya Palestina yalivutia umakini wa Wakristo wa msimamo mkali na wakoloni wa Ulaya katika karne ya 19. Miradi ya kutafiti asili ya majina ya maeneo na ubadilishaji wa kijiografia wa majina ya maeneo huko Palestina ikawa zana zenye nguvu mikononi mwa madola ya Ulaya yaliyoshindania kupenya katika ardhi ya Biblia. Waingereza ndio wa kwanza kutambua na kutumia nguvu ya uchunguzi wa kijiografia unaofadhiliwa na serikali, na wakaanza kuunganisha jiografia ya kimaandiko na miradi ya "urejeshaji", uchimbaji wa mabaki ya kale na upenyaji wa kikoloni wa Palestina. Koloni la kwanza la Waingereza, Kerem Avraham ("Shamba la Mizabibu la Ibrahimu"), lilianza kama makazi madogo lililoanzishwa mwaka 1855 na Balozi mwenye ushawishi wa Uingereza mjini Jerusalem, James Finn, pamoja na mkewe Elizabeth Anne Finn, binti wa mwanazuoni maarufu wa Kiingereza wa lugha ya Kiebrania, naye mwenyewe akiwa msemaji wa Kiebrania. James Finn, aliyehudumu mjini Jerusalem chini ya Waothmani kuanzia mwaka 1846 hadi 1863, alitawala mji huo bila kupingwa, na akawa mtu mkuu katika upenyaji wa Wazungu wa Palestina wa katikati ya karne ya 19. Pia aliunganisha kazi yake ya kidiplomasia ya Uingereza na shughuli za umishonari wa Kikristo. Shughuli zake zilitengeneza njia kwa ajili ya uchunguzi wa kimaandiko na upimaji wa kijeshi wa ramani ya Palestina uliofanywa na maafisa wa Kikosi cha Uhandisi cha Kifalme cha Uingereza kwa niaba ya Mfuko wa Uchunguzi wa Palestina wenye makao yake London.

Palestinian place names attracted the attention of fundamentalist Christians and European imperialists in the 19th century. Toponymic projects and geographical replacing of place names in Palestine became powerful tools in the hands of the European powers which competed to penetrate the land of the Bible. The British were the first to recognise and exploit the power of state-sponsored explorations and began to link scriptural geography with ‘restorationist’ schemes, excavations and colonial penetration of Palestine. The first British colony of Kerem Avraham (‘Abraham Vineyard’) began as a small settlement founded in 1855 by the influential British Consul in Jerusalem James Finn, and his wife Elizabeth Anne Finn, the daughter of a noted English Hebrew scholar and herself a Hebrew speaker. James Finn, who served in Ottoman Jerusalem from 1846 to 1863, reigned supreme in the city and he became a central figure in the mid-19th century European penetration of Palestine. He also combined his British diplomatic job with Christian missionary activities. His activities paved the way for the biblical explorations and military mapping of Palestine by officers of the British Royal Engineering Corp on behalf of the London-based Palestine Exploration Fund.

James Finn alichanganya itikadi ya "urejesho" ya Kibiblia na shughuli za kimisionari na utumishi rasmi wa serikali ya Uingereza. Yeye na mkewe Elizabeth awali walikuwa wanachama wa London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. Pia, na jambo muhimu sana, alikuwa mshirika wa karibu wa Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl wa 7 wa Shaftesbury, Mbunge mashuhuri wa Tory, Mprotestanti mwenye imani ya milenia na mchangiaji mkuu wa "urejesho" wa Kizayuni wa Kiprotestanti wa enzi ya Victoria, ambaye alibuni hadithi ya "Nchi isiyo na watu, kwa watu wasio na nchi". Mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 1850, Finn alinunua Karm al-Khalili, ambalo kwa Kiarabu lina maana ya "Shamba la Mizabibu la al-Khalili", kutoka kwa Mpalestina mmoja wa eneo hilo kwa pauni 250.

James Finn combined biblical ‘restorationist’ ideology and missionary activities with official British civil service. He and his wife Elizabeth were originally members of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. Also, crucially, he was a close associate of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, a prominent Tory MP, a millennialist Protestant and a key contributor to Victorian Protestant Zionist ‘restorationism’, who invented the myth ‘A land without people, for a people without a land’. In the early 1850s Finn had purchased Karm al-Khalili, Arabic for ‘al-Khalili Vineyard’, from a local Palestinian for £250.

Al-Khalil ni jina asilia la Kiarabu la Kipalestina la mji (wa kibiblia)

Al-Khalil is the indigenous Palestinian Arabic toponym for the (biblical)

mji wa Hebroni, mji ambao mila za Kipalestina za Kiislamu wenyeji na mila za Biblia zote mbili zinauhusisha na Baba wa Mataifa Ibrahim al-Khalil (Abrahamu). Hivyo Finn alitumia jina la asili kuunganisha kwa uthabiti jina la mahali la koloni ya kisasa huko Jerusalem na mila za Biblia.

city of Hebron, a city which both local Palestinian Muslim and biblical traditions link to the Patriarch ‘Ibrahim al-Khalil’ (Abraham); thus Finn used an indigenous name to link firmly the toponym of the modern colony in Jerusalem to biblical traditions.

Baada ya ushindi wa mwaka 1967, dola ya Israel ililazimika kujenga dhana yake ya Yerusalemu juu ya kiumbe kilichotengenezwa kimitholojia, ‘Yerusalemu ya Dhahabu’, na kutegemea haki za kihistoria na kiitikadi zisizo na msingi halisi katika maeneo yaliyotwaliwa hivi karibuni. Madai yake pia yalitegemea upanuzi wa mipaka na utawala, pamoja na ‘ukombozi wa ardhi’ kupitia ukoloni wa walowezi. Mchakato uleule wa kujitwalia na kufuta urithi wa Kipalestina, pamoja na kuweka juu ya maeneo ya Kipalestina majina ya mahali ya Kiebrania ya kikoloni ya Kizayuni, uliendelea baada ya 1967. Karibu mara tu baada ya kutwaliwa kwa Yerusalemu Mashariki, Jumba la Makumbusho ya Akiolojia ya Palestina, lililowakilisha utambulisho wa tamaduni nyingi na urithi wa pamoja wa Palestina, lilibadilishwa jina na kuitwa Jumba la Makumbusho la Rockefeller. Baadhi ya vitu vilipelekwa kwenye Hekalu la Kitabu (Kiebrania: Hekhal Hasefer), sehemu ya Makumbusho ya Israel huko Yerusalemu Magharibi, ambayo huhifadhi sehemu za Hati-Kunjo za Bahari ya Chumvi zilizogunduliwa mwaka 1947‒1956 katika mapango ya Qumran. Jumba la Makumbusho ya Akiolojia ya Palestina lilikuwa kwenye Karm al-Shakyh, ‘Shamba la Mizabibu’ la Shaykh al-Khalili, kilima kilicho nje kidogo ya kona ya kaskazini-mashariki ya Mji Mkongwe. Jumba hilo la makumbusho lilibuniwa na kuanzishwa wakati wa kipindi cha Mamlaka ya Kimandeti, kwa msaada wa kifedha wa familia ya Rockefeller.

After the 1967 conquests, the Israeli state was bound to base its conception of Jerusalem upon a mythologised entity, ‘Jerusalem of Gold’, and to invoke abstract historical and ideological rights in the newly acquired territories, as well as resting its claim on territorial expansion and domination and the ‘redemption of land’ through settler-colonisation. The same process of appropriation and erasure of Palestinian heritage and the superimposition of a Zionist Hebrew colonising toponymy on Palestinian sites continued after 1967. Almost immediately after the conquest of East Jerusalem the Palestine Archaeological Museum, which represented the multicultural identity and shared heritage of Palestine, was renamed the Rockefeller Museum. Some items were taken to the Shrine of the Book (Hebrew: Hekhal Hasefer), a wing of the Israel Museum in West Jerusalem, which houses parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947‒1956 in the Qumran caves. The Palestine Archaeological Museum had been located on Karm al-Shakyh, the ‘Vineyard’ of Shaykh al-Khalili, a hill just outside the north-eastern corner of the Old City. The museum had been conceived and established during the Mandatory period, with financial support from the Rockefeller family.

Ilifunguliwa kwa umma mnamo Januari 1938. Makumbusho hayo yalikuwa na mkusanyiko mkubwa wa mabaki ya kale yaliyogunduliwa katika uchimbaji uliofanywa huko Palestina mnamo 1890‒1948. Pia miongoni mwa vitu vya thamani vya makumbusho hayo kulikuwa na mabaki ya kihistoria kutoka Msikiti wa al-Aqsa, pamoja na vizingiti vya marumaru vya karne ya 12 (kipindi cha Vita vya Msalaba) kutoka Kanisa la Holy Sepulchre.

It was opened to the public in January 1938. The museum housed a large collection of artefacts unearthed in the excavations conducted in Palestine in 1890‒1948. Also among the museum’s prized possessions were historical artefacts from the al-Aqsa Mosque and 12th century (Crusader period) marble lintels from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Hadi mwaka 1966, makumbusho hii iliendeshwa na bodi ya wadhamini wa kimataifa; baadaye ikachukuliwa na serikali ya Jordan. Tangu mwaka 1967, makumbusho imekuwa ikisimamiwa kwa pamoja na Makumbusho ya Israel na Idara ya Israel ya Mambo ya Kale na Makumbusho (baadaye ilipewa jina la Mamlaka ya Mambo ya Kale ya Israel).

Until 1966 the museum was run by an international board of trustees; it was then taken over by the Jordanian state. Since 1967 the museum has been jointly managed by the Israel Museum and the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums (later renamed Israel Antiquities Authority).

Tovuti hii sasa ni makao makuu ya Mamlaka ya Mambo ya Kale ya Israel. Wakati Jumba la Makumbusho la Akiolojia la Palestina la kipindi cha Mamlaka ya Uingereza bado lilionyesha utofauti chanya wa dini na makabila uliokuwa sifa ya Yerusalemu na Palestina kwa karne nyingi, Jumba la Makumbusho la Israel na Hekalu la Kitabu vinaonyesha dhamira moja ya Mamlaka ya Mambo ya Kale ya Israel na sekta ya urithi ya Israel ya kuifanya historia ya kale na ya kisasa ya Palestina iwe ya Kiyahudi na kuikoloni.

The site is now the headquarters of the Israel Antiquity Authorities. While the Palestine Archaeological Museum of the Mandatory period still represented the positive diversity of religions and ethnicities that characterised Jerusalem and Palestine for many centuries, the Israel Museum and Shrine of the Book represent the single-minded determination by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Israel’s heritage industry to Judaise and colonise both the ancient and modern histories of Palestine.