UNESCO to decide if Tomb of the Patriarchs is a Muslim site

Israel is working to thwart attempts to ascribe Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs to “Palestine” on Friday, while the city’s deputy mayor, Yousef al Jabari, said the move would clarify that the site was “a pure Muslim mosque.”

“It is a place for Muslim worshipers,” Jabri told a group of visiting journalists on Thursday, in advance of the 21-member World Heritage Committee vote on the matter.

“We will do everything we can [for] this place to remain a mosque, and a mosque for Muslim worshipers only,” Jabri said in Arabic through an English translator.

The Palestinian Authority has warned the committee that Hebron’s Old City and the tomb are at risk from the IDF unless it is placed on the World Heritage in Danger list.

If the PA is successful in its bid, Hebron’s Old City would

become the third site registered under “Palestine” since the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recognized it as a member state in 2011.

Israel has nine sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, but none is located beyond Israel’s pre-1967 lines.

Jerusalem’s Old City, which includes the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, was designated by UNESCO as belonging to Jordan, and has been on the World Heritage in Danger list since 1982.

On Thursday, during a trip organized by Media Central, Jabri told journalists that he did not recognize Jewish ties to the site nor believe that Jews themselves felt a connection to the structure.

“The real religious Jews do not come and pray in the cave,” he said. “It is only settlers who come to pray. It is not the religious Jews. If Jews think they have a connection or ties to [the Tomb of the Patriarchs], why do only settlers go to this site?”

Jabri said Palestinians “do believe in all religions and we believe in coexistence,” adding, “Jews have a right to pray in their synagogue but not in the mosque.”

Still, Jabri insisted that the request for inscription the UNESCO list is about history and protection, not religion.

In its request, the PA focused almost exclusively on the city’s Muslim history and the section known as the Old City that was built during the Mamluk Period that began in 1250.

The International Council on Monuments and Sites, or ICOMOS, did not recommend Hebron’s Old City for inscription on the heritage list at this time, because the historical scope of the request was too narrow. ICOMOS explained that Hebron was unique because of its long urban history and its ties to three monotheistic religions. It added that the PA should also include in its request Tel Rumeida, which some scholars believe was the location of biblical Hebron.

But the inscription resolution did not refer to those objections, instead saying the committee could not evaluate the site because Israel prevented the UN body’s representative making a field visit.

After Israel lodged a complaint, a last-minute change was made to the resolution to include the technical reservations noted by ICOMOS.

Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, said he was hopeful that the late change to the text was a positive sign showing that victory might be possible, in spite of the Palestinian’s automatic majority in the UN.

“Some in the organization shamelessly tried to turn a negative report toward the Palestinians into a recommendation against Israel that justified the Palestinian’s failed request,” Shama-Hacohen said. “I am happy that someone at UNESCO corrected this injustice,” he said. •