Solution A

The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet

Decision and Application III

[Ebal, thirty of thirty-three]

When you raise an issue, the military expects you to offer a solution.

I write this post in that spirit..

The issue is this: How might archaeologists properly excavate Joshua’s Altar?

Before I give my solution, I need to address a likely complaint. It is that my solution involves the government in a religious matter.

This is not about religion. It is about truth. It is about allowing history, archaeology, and science free access to seek truth.

People may indeed use that truth for religious purposes. In our country, folks are free to do that.

That, in itself, does not limit government. It can justly protect history, archaeology, and science in their quest for truth.

Therefore, my solution is this: The U.S. should lease Joshua’s Altar from the Palestinian Authority.

Historical examples of such include:

• Hong Kong’s New Territories (1898);
• Guantánamo Bay (1903);
• Panama Canal Zone (1903);
• Destroyers-for-Bases (1940);
• U.S. Lend-Lease Program (1941); and 
• Diego Garcia (1966).

Afterward, we should address the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Our demand should be: “Declare the altar a World Heritage Site!”

First, Congress must repeal or change several laws. These deter the U.S. from interacting with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

These include the following:

• Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 (PATA);
• Taylor Force Act;
• ICC and International Body Restrictions
• Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA)
• Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (PSJVTA); and
• The PLO Commitments Compliance Act and Middle East Peace Commitment Act

Following these actions, the U.S. should negotiate a lease. The ninety-nine-year term would include not only the altar site. It would also include the area within the surrounding stone “footprints”.

The lease provisions grant the U.S. authority to excavate. It also grants the U.S. ownership of any artifacts discovered.

Moreover, the lease includes the following provisions:

• The PA will nominate Joshua’s Altar as a tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site; and
• One year later, they will nominate it for permanent status. They will continue until the selection committee approves the designation.

Achieving this lease may not be easy. Certainly, it is not something one would expect a son-in-law or golf buddy to negotiate.

I am confident, however, that professional diplomats could achieve this.

The following measures would smooth the lease’s path:

• Pay our UN dues. (Presently, we are about four billion dollars in arrears. This arrearage stains our prestige on the world’s stage.); and
• Renew or continue our membership in UNESCO.

Both the U.S. and Israel left UNESCO in 2019 during the first Trump administration.

The U.S. rejoined during the Biden years.

President Trump pulled us out again in 2025, effective December 2026.1

The United States should remain in UNESCO. There, it should exert its influence on this and other matters.

UNESCO is the United Nations agency responsible for preserving cultural sites. These are important to humankind around the globe. It also promotes science and education worldwide.

Click here to see the listings of its World Heritage Sites. Notice that this includes many in Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the U.S.

Currently, it is unlikely that President Trump will support UNESCO membership.

However, this could change after the November 2026 midterm elections. Congress may then have greater political power over such actions.

Besides, the President’s base should favor Joshua’s Altar being a World Heritage Site.

Further, the U.S. remaining a force in UNESCO makes good public policy sense.

Our withdrawal forfeits influence on the world stage to China. We should not desire this in the areas of culture, science, and education.

For one, this emboldens China’s position as a more reliable partner on these fronts.

But the danger is more specific.

Consider China’s influence over education as an example.

Our absence from AI conversations here could lead to distasteful results. We value privacy and consumer safety. China emphasizes other interests. It appreciates control over online content creation and dissemination. That is within China, and its conceptions of cybersecurity more broadly.” 1

We should not concede to China the influence of such multinational norms.

The same applies to science and culture.

Thus, I contacted my congressional delegation regarding this issue. I asked that they follow these steps:

• Advance the actions necessary to make Congressional interaction with the Palestinian Authority legal;
• Work with the State Department to arrange the lease terms outlined above; and
• Advocate for:
  • Paying our UN dues;
  • Continuing our UNESCO membership, and
  • Joshua’s Altar as a World Heritage site.

Readers, I also encourage you to contact your congressional delegation. The next post gives guidance on this.

Now, for a question: Do you agree that abandoning our UNESCO influence is a poor public policy move? 

Let me know in the comments section.

Next Post: “Solutions B & C”

1. Here We Go Again: The U.S. Withdrawal from UNESCO,
   https://ucigcc.org/blog/here-we-go-again-the-u-s-withdrawal-from-unesco/,United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ↩︎