Israel has begun construction around an ancient reservoir in the occupied West Bank village of Fasayil, near Jericho, after settlers illegally diverted water from a Palestinian farmer's irrigation system to fill a recreational swimming pool. Rather than restore the water supply, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — himself a far-right settler — announced a state-funded "development and preservation" project for what has been branded "Herod's Pool," pledging more than three million shekels (approximately $1 million) to the effort. "The Settlement Revolution continues!" Smotrich declared on social media. The reservoir sits on land belonging to Palestinian farmer Saad Nemer, whose family has held title for over a century. Israeli-issued documentation and older title records reviewed by Reuters support the family's ownership claim. Settlers stole Nemer's irrigation pipeline to redirect water to the pool, leaving his farmland scorched and greenhouses empty. One of his employees was beaten. COGAT, the Israeli military body administering the West Bank, acknowledged the diversion was "without authorisation" and said it would investigate — even as senior ministers celebrated the project. Nemer told The New York Times that COGAT informed him his water would be restored, but it returned for only one day before being cut off again. He now fears approaching the reservoir to reconnect his pipeline due to settler violence. The pool's connection to Herod the Great — a first-century BC Jewish king — is unsubstantiated. Alon Arad, executive director of Emek Shaveh, an Israeli archaeological rights NGO, told Reuters the pool's origins are unclear and that archaeology is being weaponised "to create this feeling that the West Bank is exclusively Jewish." The Herod's Pool project fits a well-established pattern. In Sebastia (ancient Samaria), Israel has dedicated significant funding since 2023 to excavate and develop an archaeological park as an Israeli "national park," displacing Palestinians who have long showcased the ruins as their heritage. Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu — who lives in an illegal settlement — declared it "first and foremost a Jewish heritage site." In Bethlehem governorate, Israeli politicians have sought control over Solomon's Pools, three ancient reservoirs used by Palestinians for generations. In Hebron, Israel has repeatedly restricted Muslim access to the Ibrahimi Mosque, parts of which date to the Herodian era; UNESCO recognised Hebron's Old City as a Palestinian heritage site in 2017 and warned it was endangered by settler encroachment. The mechanism is consistent across all these cases: contested or unproven archaeological claims are used to justify state seizure of Palestinian land and water resources, with heritage designation serving as the legal instrument of dispossession. The appropriation of water in the Jordan Valley — one of the most fertile and strategically important regions of the West Bank — is not incidental. Israel's monopolisation of water resources in the valley has long been documented as a tool of territorial control. What distinguishes Herod's Pool is the brazenness of the sequence: private theft by settlers, followed by state acknowledgement that the theft was unauthorised, followed by state funding to formalise the theft as a heritage project. The farmer whose land and water were taken has no functioning recourse. COGAT's investigation proceeds in parallel with Smotrich's construction crews. The archaeological claim that legitimises the project has not been verified by any independent authority. The pattern converts private Palestinian property into Israeli state assets through a three-step laundering process — settler seizure, contested heritage claim, government formalisation — that leaves the original owner with neither land, water, nor legal remedy.
