Plan brokered by UCLA, USC archaeologists would remove roadblock to Mideast peace

In a parallel effort, the team spent three years tracking down and itemizing more than 1,500 sites and tens of thousands of artifacts that would fall into a legal limbo if a two-state system were adopted, as previous peace plans have suggested. Assembled through investigation of scholarly reports about the excavations, the use of Freedom of Information Act requests and, finally, legal action, the resulting electronic database also includes the current location of artifacts removed from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including those removed from the Rockefeller Museum, an East Jerusalem archaeological museum that houses a large collection of artifacts unearthed in excavations conducted in Palestine beginning in the late 19th century. The information now is available on request to researchers, policymakers and politicians, but the team hopes to make it available soon over the Internet.

"When negotiators come in, they will know what to talk about specifically," Boytner said.

At issue is control of all archaeological material recovered inside the borders of a future Palestinian state. Palestinians have expressed the desire to control such resources within their boundaries. But since the 1967 War, Israelis have excavated extensively in the West Bank, deciding where to excavate and then removing the artifacts to storage facilities controlled by the Israeli Civil Administration.

Yet, as much as Palestinians have expressed the desire to control such cultural heritage, they can also view preservation efforts with suspicion.

"Archaeology sometimes has been used as a reason to curtail the natural expansion and refurbishing of Palestinian villages and towns," Dodd said. "The combination of military, economic and archaeological barriers to prosperity in Palestinian villages caused great resistance to archaeological-heritage preservation among segments of the Palestinian population. Prominent Palestinian archaeologists report that for some Palestinians, looting of artifacts becomes a means of resistance to the Israeli occupation."

Participants credit Israel-born Boytner, whose expertise is actually Andean archaeology, with getting the ball rolling. Long fascinated with "the role politics plays in archaeology in one of the greatest conflicts on earth right now," he decided to pursue an agreement following a chance meeting with an assistant to a leading negotiator for the Israeli government. Boytner was surprised to learn about the lack of progress on cultural heritage in past peace negotiations.

"Nobody was doing anything about it," Boytner said. "This was off the radar for everyone."