Jerusalem and Its Walls: UNESCO Refuses to Bow to Israeli Pressure
04 November 2016
By Ramzy Baroud
Despite all the threats and political grandstanding, Unesco's World Heritage
Committee has approved, on October 26, a new resolution that reaffirms the
status of occupied Jerusalem's Old City on the list of endangered world
heritage sites.
The approval of the resolution, entitled 'Old City of Jerusalem and Its Walls'
comes only days after the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation's executive board ratified a resolution in which it condemned
Israel's violations of the status of Palestinian holy sites.
The text of both resolutions referred to the sites by their Arabic Muslim
names only, which ignited a storm of criticism from Israel and a few Western
countries as well.
Oddly, leading the charge was Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi. The nature
of the latter's angry remarks left one wondering if he even read the text of
the first resolution, which was approved on October 12.
''I think this is a mistaken, inconceivable resolution,'' he said. ''It is not
possible to continue with these resolutions at the UN and Unesco that aim to
attack Israel. It is shocking and I have ordered that we stop taking this
position [his country's abstention] even if it means diverging from the
position taken by the rest of Europe.''
True to his promise, Italy voted against the second resolution two weeks
later. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, replied in response,
thanking Renzi for his anti-Palestinian stance.
Renzi, who became Prime Minister in 2014 at the relatively young age of 39
knows exactly how the game is played. In order to win favour with Washington,
he must first satisfy Tel Aviv.
His country has abstained from the early October vote on the resolution that
condemns Israel's violations of the cultural and legal status of Occupied East
Jerusalem. Then, the Unesco decision has ignited the ire of Israeli Ambassador
to Rome Ofer Zaks, who riled the Jewish community in Italy to protest Italy's
abstention.
Renzi engaged in damage control mode, clearly without truly understanding the
nature of the resolution, which merely condemned Israel's obvious violations
of international law, and only called for Israel to respect the status of
Palestinian culture in the occupied city.
The subsequent resolution too hardly deviated from acceptable international
legal norms. As described by Palestinian official, Saeb Erekat, the new
resolution called for ''respecting the status quo of its religious sites,
including [Al Haram Al Sharif] that continues to be threatened by the
systematic incitement and provocative actions of the Israeli government and
extremist Jewish groups.''
Just doing its job
None of the procedures that led to the votes on the first or second resolution
were accused of violating protocol, nor was the wording inconsistent with
international law. In fact, Unesco was just doing its job: attempting to
protect and preserve the historical and cultural heritage of the world.
Occupied Jerusalem is a holy city to a large majority of humanity, simply
because it is significant to the spiritual well-being of the adherents of the
three monotheistic religions. In fact, the October 12 resolution stated so:
''Affirming the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the
three monotheistic religions…''
Renzi's outburst is, however, particularly disappointing, to say the least,
for the young, eager politician who so desperately tried to score cheap
political points with Israel and the US without a full, or even partial
comprehension of what the Unesco resolutions resolved.
''To say that the Jews have no links to [occupied] Jerusalem is like saying
the sun creates darkness,'' he said, paraphrasing the sentiment displayed by
the Israeli Prime Minister himself. Interestingly, the resolutions made no
such reference.
Chorus of denunciations
This is what Netanyahu had said in response to the resolution and shortly
before he suspended his country's membership with Unesco. Using language that
is as amusing as his cartoonish depiction of the Iranian nuclear bomb in his
famous UN spectacle in 2012, he said: ''To say that Israel has no connection
to the [Al Haram Al Sharif] and the Western Wall is like saying that China has
no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to
the Pyramids.''
Other Israeli officials followed suit with a chorus of denunciations. Minister
of Culture, Miri Regev, cut to the chase by labelling the resolution
''shameful and anti-Semitic.''
In fact, it was neither. In addition to Renzi's scathing reaction, the US and
other Western governments reacted with exaggerated anger, again without
remotely considering or addressing the situation on the ground, which prompted
the resolutions — and numerous other UN resolutions in the past — in the first
place.
Israel is working diligently to appropriate Muslim and Christian heritage in
occupied East Jerusalem, a city that is designated by international law as
illegally occupied.
The Israeli army and police have restricted the movement of Palestinian
worshippers and is excavating under the foundation of the third holiest Muslim
shrine, Al Haram Al Sharif, in search of a mythological temple. In the process
of doing so, numerous Palestinians, trying to defend their mosque from the
attacks staged by Israeli occupation forces and extremist Jewish groups, have
been killed.
How is Unesco to react to this? The first resolution only calls on Israel to
''allow for the restoration of the historic status quo that prevailed until
September 2000, under which the Jordanian Awqaf (Religious Foundation)
Department exercised exclusive authority on Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif.''
It also 'stressed' the ''urgent need for the implementation of the Unesco
reactive monitoring mission to the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls.''
For nearly 50 years, following the illegal occupation and annexation of the
Palestinian Arab city, Israel has done everything it possibly could to strip
the city of its universal appeal and Arab heritage, and make it the exclusive
domain of Jews — thus the slogan of occupied Jerusalem being Israel's 'eternal
and undivided capital.'
Utter failure
Israel's anger stems from the fact that after five decades of ceaseless
efforts, neither Unesco nor other UN institutions will accept Israel's
practices and designations — it's appropriation of territories and sites. In
2011, following the admission of 'Palestine' as a member state, Israel ranted
and raved as well, resulting in the US cutting off funding to Unesco.
The latest resolutions indicate that Israel and the US have utterly failed to
coerce or control Unesco. What also caused much fury in Tel Aviv is that
Unesco used the Arabic references to Al Haram Al Sharif, Al Aqsa Mosque and
other Muslim religious and heritage sites — in much the same way as they would
refer to Egypt's Pyramids of Giza and China's Great Wall by their actual
names. This is simply factual — hardly 'anti-Semitic'.
Since its establishment atop Palestinian towns and village, Israel has been
relentlessly aiming to rename everything Arabic using Hebrew alternatives.
Recent years have seen a massive push towards the Judaisation of Arab
Christian and Muslim sites, streets and holy shrines, a campaign spearheaded
by the Israeli right and ultranationalist groups.
Not only should the Unesco resolutions be respected, they should also be
followed by practical mechanisms to implement its recommendations. Israel, an
occupying regime, should not be given a free pass to besiege the holy shrines
of two major world religions, restrict the movement and attack worshippers,
annex occupied territories and destroy what is essential spiritual heritage
that belongs to the entire world.
– Dr Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media
consultant, an author of several books and the founder of
PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter:
Gaza's Untold Story.
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