Palestine appreciated the UNESCO decision of designating Hebron and the two adjoined shrines at its heart – Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Muslim Ibrahimi Mosque – as a “Palestinian World Heritage Site in Danger”.
The Council for International Relations said, in a press release, that the decision halts the Zionist claim and confirms the right of the Palestinian people to their land and history.
The council called on the UNESCO to implement the decision by protecting the sites from the Israeli occupation and settlers who try very hard to Judaize the area and throw their Palestinian inhabitants out.
In the press release, the council thanked the members who voted in favor, considering their votes as leading to the end of the Israeli occupation and revealing peace in the region.
Last Friday, The UN’s world heritage body (UNESCO) recognized the old city of Hebron (Al Khalil), in the West Ban,k as a Palestinian world heritage site.
Meanwhile, Israel slammed the UNESCO vote, pledging to reduce its funding to the UN, CNN reported.
The decision by the UN’s cultural agency, at a meeting in Poland by secret ballot, saw 12 countries vote in favor, with three against and six abstentions.
Israel has accused UNESCO of making a politically motivated move, part of what it says is an attempt to deny the Jewish character and heritage of certain key sites in the Holy Land.
Israeli Government Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the right wing Jewish Home Party, called it a “disgraceful vote.”
“The Jewish connection to Hebron goes back thousands of years,” said Bennett. “It’s disappointing and disgraceful that time and again UNESCO denies history and distorts reality, knowingly serving those attempting to erase the Jewish state.”
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in a statement, that Israel would be reducing its funding to the United Nations by one million dollars, so that it could build a museum in the town.
The United States had worked strongly to prevent the decision. It has taken a tougher line under the Trump administration against what it says is anti-Israel bias among certain UN organizations. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that passing the vote on Hebron would have “unfortunate” repercussions for the “peace process”, PNN further reports.
