Yesterday, in a newly dug grave, Israeli volunteers buried hundreds of bones found in a two-millennia-old burial cave near Jericho that had apparently been looted. Rachel Bernstein writes:

The cave was . . . exposed by a tractor during illegal agricultural work. The cave’s grottoes were badly damaged, and hundreds of newly severed human bones had been discovered in freshly turned soil. . . .

Haifa University’s Rachel Hachlili, who has extensively studied Jewish necropolises near Jericho, noted during the complex’s initial discovery that these caves constitute the largest Second Temple-era burial ground in Israel. Hundreds of tombs were found in a complex of dozens of burial caves, in which unique inscriptions were uncovered that provided details about the deceased.

The burial complex is believed to be associated with a Hasmonean palace . . . located near Jericho—a place with ideal winter climate not far from Jerusalem. To maintain economic flow to these complexes, the Hasmoneans initiated agricultural projects, which flourished during their time and supported local Jewish communities.

Addressing a recent meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Committee, Mahmoud Abbas criticized Hamas more sharply than he has previously (at least in public), calling them “sons of dogs.” The eighty-nine-year-old Palestinian Authority president urged the terrorist group to “stop the war of extermination in Gaza” and “hand over the American hostages.” The editors of the New York Sun comment:

Mr. Abbas has long been at odds with Hamas, which violently ousted his Fatah party from Gaza in 2007. The tone of today’s outburst, though, is new. Comparing rivals to canines, which Arabs consider dirty, is startling. Its motivation, though, was unrelated to the plight of the 59 remaining hostages, including 23 living ones. Instead, it was an attempt to use an opportune moment for reviving Abbas’s receding clout.

[W]hile Hamas’s popularity among Palestinians soared after its orgy of killing on October 7, 2023, it is now sinking. The terrorists are hoarding Gaza aid caches that Israel declines to replenish. As the war drags on, anti-Hamas protests rage across the Strip. Polls show that Hamas’s previously elevated support among West Bank Arabs is also down. Striking the iron while it’s hot, Abbas apparently longs to retake center stage. Can he?

Diminishing support for Hamas is yet to match the contempt Arabs feel toward Abbas himself. Hamas considers him irrelevant for what it calls “the resistance.”

[Meanwhile], Abbas is yet to condemn Hamas’s October 7 massacre. His recent announcement of ending alms for terror is a ruse.

Abbas, it’s worth noting, hasn’t saved all his epithets for Hamas. He also twice said of the Americans, “may their fathers be cursed.” Of course, after a long career of anti-Semitic incitement, Abbas can’t be expected to have a moral awakening. Nor is there much incentive for him to fake one. But, like the protests in Gaza, Abbas’s recent diatribe is a sign that Hamas is perceived as weak and that its stock is sinking.