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In June 1967, hours after the Israel Defense Forces had captured Bethlehem and united East and West Jerusalem, Professor Yigael Yadin tracked down a Dead Sea Scroll that was in the hands of an East Jerusalem antiquities dealer. Yadin, who was serving as general advisor to Prime Minister Eshkol, arranged for an Israeli officer to find the antiquities dealer in his East Jerusalem shop. The dealer then took the officer to his home in Bethlehem, where the dealer pulled from their hiding places a flimsy shoe box (see photograph) and a cigar box (see photograph).

Inside the shoe box, wrapped in cellophane and an old towel, lay a 1,900-year old scroll.