Masada endangered - and this time not from the Romans

One of the places on my 'must visit' list when I bring the Last Amazon to Israel is Masada. At first, she was reluctant to add it to the list, as no shopping mall is adjacent to the hilltop fortress but I worked my mommy magic and she’s now officially hyped so imagine my chargin when I read this report in Ynet News:

Masada and other ancient fortresses may collapse if additional funds are not allocated toward their preservation, experts say. Masada’s condition began to deteriorate four years ago due to torrential rains, as the accumulated water seeped into the 1,400 meters (4,593 feet) of walls surrounding the site. A few hundred meters of the walls were reinforced, but the remaining parts are still in danger of collapse. Structures inside the fortress have also eroded due to rain and wind.

Masada, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, is located in an area that is prone to earthquakes, which experts say may destroy the site entirely. In addition, vandals recently detached a large part of a fresco from one of Masada’s walls, causing large stones to fall to the ground. “We have preserved the parts that may endanger human lives, but the rest of the fortress may collapse,” Israel Nature and Parks Authority official Ze’ev Margalit said.

I can understand why an Israeli Kadima-Labour coalition government would be reluctant to pony up the funds necessary to preserve an ancient historical site which represented the last stand of a group of religious Jews against the “lawful” governing administration of Syria Palestinia. Just think about the implications of a historical precedent being applied Olmert’s convergent plans.