Israeli Jewish journalist Asaf Shalev, who lives in California, has said that Israel had been hiding 300,000 documents about crimes carried out against the Palestinians, thousands of them date back to 1800s, +972 Magazine reported early this week.

Shalev was reported saying to the magazine that Israel’s State Archives declassified secret documents last summer including documents which are more than a century old; however, he said, 300,000 documents which predate the creation of Israel remained classified.

The very existence of the 300,000 classified files—their names, dates, and origin within the state bureaucracy—had been kept a secret, until now, he was reported saying by +972 Magazine, noting that one-fifth of the files, deemed too sensitive still by the government, were excluded from the disclosure.

Palestinian archives: A reflection of a rich history

“There were many people who were concerned about the opening of this catalog,” +972 Magazine reported Israel’s State Archivist Yaacov Lozowick writing in a statement accompanying the release.

Shalev noted that the oldest of these documents, which remained classified, titled “Parker Report” dates back to 1821. In addition, there are 125 classified documents dating back to the 19th century and about 2,000 documents from before the Nakba of 1948.

He added, according to +972 Magazine, we cannot access the files so that it is impossible to say why they are still classified over 70, and in some cases, nearly 200 years later.

Amongst the documents are files on Deir Yassin and Kfar Qasim, the two most notorious massacres carried out by Israeli forces.