Tabnak – In its latest move to recognize Palestinian nation’s rights over its historical heritage, UNESCO voted in favor of declaring Old City of al-Khalil as a protected heritage site. As anticipated, the move has angered Israeli officials who claim it to be an act of "anti-Semitism.”
Press TV reports that on Friday, the UN’s cultural arm voted 12 to three -- with six abstentions -- to give heritage status to al-Khalil Hebron in the occupied West Bank, which is home to more than 200,000 Palestinians and a few hundred Israeli settlers.
On Thursday, a Palestinian official said that Tel Aviv was seeking to thwart Palestinian efforts to include the Old City of al-Khalil (Hebron) on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger.
This is while, according to Palestine’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the old city of al-Khalil urgently needed protection from "assaults that harm the exceptional international value of the place.”
Reacting to UNESCO’s Friday vote, the Palestinian foreign ministry declared that "This vote is a success for the diplomatic battle fought by Palestine on all fronts, in the face of Israeli and American pressure on member states.”
"Despite a frantic Israeli campaign spreading lies and distorting the facts about the Palestinian rights, the world has recognized our right to register Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque under Palestinian sovereignty," the statement added.
On the other side of the story, Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli defense minister, released a furious statement after the vote on Friday and called for Donald Trump to punish UNESCO by cutting its funding.
"UNESCO is a politically biased, shameful and anti-Semitic organization whose decisions are scandalous, and I hope that with the help of our great friend the United States, the organization's budget will be cut off,” he said.
Furthermore, Israel’s UNESCO ambassador, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, reportedly stormed to the desk of the session’s chairman after the vote, and accused the committee of not conducting a truly secret ballot. Israel’s far-right education minister, Naftali Bennett denounced the move too and accused the body of being "a political tool, rather than professional organization”.
Daily Telegraph notes that the UNESCO vote marks the failure of a coordinated diplomatic campaign by the US and Israel to try to stop the vote. UNESCO ambassadors were briefed at the Israeli foreign ministry last month to try to persuade them not to support the resolution.
In addition, on June 30, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley wrote to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, claiming that Ibrahimi Mosque "is in no immediate threat. Such a designation risks undermining the seriousness such an assessment by UNESCO should have.”
It should be also noted that on Tuesday, the UNESCO passed a resolution, denouncing Israel’s "illegal” practices in East Jerusalem (al-Quds) and describing the regime as an "occupying power.”
The resolution slammed "the failure of the Israeli occupying authorities to cease the persistent excavations, tunneling works, projects and other illegal practices in East Jerusalem [al-Quds], particularly in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, which are illegal under international law.”
