UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee on Wednesday approved a new resolution on the status of conservation of the Old City of Jerusalem that drew angry accusations from Israel that the document denies Judaism’s deep ties to the site.
The US decried the resolution as “inflammatory.”
In Wednesday’s secret ballot, the UN cultural body agreed to retain the walled area, home to key Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites, on the list of endangered world heritage sites.
It also criticized Israel for its continuous refusal to let the body’s experts access Jerusalem’s holy sites to determine their conservation status.
The document also refers to the Jerusalem site that Jews call the Temple Mount only by its Arabic-language name, a significant semantic decision adopted by UNESCO’s Executive Board last week that was condemned by Israel and its allies.
The site is revered by Jews and Muslims.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday’s decision was absurd, adding that he would recall his ambassador to UNESCO for consultations on how to proceed.
“What needs to be understood — and it will take time — is that this absurdity, which harms not only the historical truth and the truth of the present, but also harms — in my opinion — the UN itself,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli Minister of Education Naftali Bennett said Israel “will not cooperate with an organization denying the Jewish people’s connection to Jerusalem.”
Israel suspended ties with UNESCO earlier this month over a similar resolution.
US Ambassador to UNESCO Crystal Nix Hines said the resolutions on Jerusalem were “continuously one-sided and inflammatory.”
“This item should have been defeated... These politicized and one-sided resolutions are damaging the credibility of UNESCO,” Nix Hines said in a statement.
Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said that Wednesday’s UNESCO vote aimed to reaffirm the importance of Jerusalem for Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
“It calls for respecting the status quo of its religious sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound that continues to be threatened by the systematic incitement and provocative actions of the Israeli government and extremist Jewish groups,” Erekat said.
The Old City, home to sensitive holy sites, lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is in east Jerusalem — the area of the holy city captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their capital, while Israel has annexed the area and made it part of its capital.
While Israel controls the area, its annexation is not internationally recognized.
Israel says it protects sites holy to all religions.
Palestinians have accused Israel of trying to “Judaize” the Old City through archaeological digs and tourism projects.
Jews refer to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem’s Old City as the Temple Mount, the site of ancient temples. Muslims refer to it as al-Haram al-Sharif, Arabic for the Noble Sanctuary, and it includes the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The resolution was passed by the World Heritage Committee’s 21 member countries. Ten countries voted for, two against, eight abstained and one was absent. Israel, the US and Palestine are not on the World Heritage Committee.
Jordanian Ambassador to UNESCO Makram Queisi said the heritage committee was trying to tackle the issue from a “technical point of view” even as many parties were politicizing it.
“Jerusalem is a site listed on the World Heritage List, and this is the place where this site has to be discussed because the Israeli government after the occupation has changed many aspects on the ground,” he said.
The resolution is the latest of several measures at UNESCO over decades that Israelis see as evidence of ingrained anti-Israel bias within the UN, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list is known throughout the world for its work in highlighting sites of historic and cultural significance and endangered global heritage.
Israel had already suspended its funding to UNESCO when Palestinian membership was approved, along with the US, which used to provide 22 percent of the agency’s budget.
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