Israel cuts funding to protest UNESCO decision on Hebron
Netanyahu: This is another delusional vote • It’s a diplomatic victory, PA says
Israel plans to cut $1 million from its funding to the United Nations to protest the 21-member World Heritage Committee’s recognition of the Tomb of the Patriarchs as part of the “State of Palestine.”
In a secret ballot vote, 12 countries approved the inscription of Hebron’s Old City and the Tomb on its List of World Heritage in Danger. Three objected and six abstained.
In Krakow, where the vote took place, Israel’s Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-Hacohen had a theatrical response.
He took out his cellphone and said, “Mr. chairman, it’s my plumber in my apartment in Paris. There is a huge problem in my toilet and it is much more important than the decision you just adopted.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would use the $1m. he earmarked for the UN to build a museum of Jewish heritage in Hebron and to strengthen Jewish ties to the biblical city and the adjoining settlement of Kiryat Arba.
“This is another delusional UNESCO decision,” Netanyahu said in a video statement he issued from Jerusalem.
“This time they decided that the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron is a Palestinian site, meaning that it is not Jewish, and that the site is in danger,” the premier continued.
“Not a Jewish site?! Who is buried there? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah – our patriarchs and
matriarchs! And the site is in danger? It is only in those places where Israel is, such as Hebron, that freedom of religion for all is ensured,” he charged.
“In the Middle East, mosques, churches and synagogues in every other place are being bombed – in places that are not Israel. We will continue to protect the Cave of the Patriarchs, freedom of religion for all and the truth,” Netanyahu concluded.
Palestinian Authority UNESCO Ambassador Elias Sanbar thanked the nations who had supported his government’s third designation on the List of World Heritage in Danger, since UNESCO recognized “Palestine” as a member state in 2011.
“Palestine has not inscribed a religion on the World Heritage List. Religion cannot be inscribed on such a list. It can only be something that can be felt, something we can fight for,” Sanbar said.
“The Palestinian state is sovereign even though it is under occupation. It is acting within its full rights when it takes the initiative to nominate this city for inscription on the World Heritage List, this city which is on its territory. I think it should be absolutely obvious that the people who have something on their territory are able to inscribe that site. I do think the message is clear, but also a reminder is called for. My lands are the only lands in the whole world which are sacred to all three monotheistic religions,” Sanbar said.
“We have a shared tradition of pluralism which extends back centuries and which calls for empathy and solidarity,” he said. “What has happened on that sacred land is something that is a legacy for all of us – Jewish, Muslim or Christian or agnostic... The revelations that took place there on that land, on Palestinian land, is not limited to the mosque, the sites on this land are sacred to all.”
But the bulk of the PA’s proposal to the World Heritage Committee focused on the Hebron’s Islamic history in its Old City, starting from the Mamluk period in 1250 and continuing through the Ottoman Empire, which collapsed during World War I.
The Herodian-era structure was built over a double cave, where the three biblical patriarchs and matriarchs are said to have been buried. The cave is situated in a plot of land that was purchased by Abraham, according to the Bible.
Located in the heart of Hebron’s Old City, the Tomb of the Patriarchs houses both Jewish sanctuaries of worship and the Ibrahimi Mosque. It is Judaism’s second holiest site and Islam’s fourth.
The United States, Canada and Australia all spoke out against the UNESCO ruling, even though they are not committee members.
“The decision to inscribe Hebron/ Al Khalil Old Town on an emergency basis is divisive, confusing and impossible to justify. The site is not under any real or immediate threat. The only urgency here is the urgency to express political anger,” the US representative said.
“Had the committee shown patience, this inscription might have represented, at some time in the future, an example of the World Heritage Committee as the international community’s best tool for cultural dialogue, mutual understanding and peace. Instead, the politically motivated decision today to inscribe only further stains UNESCO’s reputation and further divides this house.”
The resolution made no mention of the problems with the PA’s application, which the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) detailed in its report.
ICOMOS, the professional body that evaluates sites, took issue with the application, particularly with its focus on the Muslim period of a city that has such strong roots in three monotheistic religions.
An initial paragraph summarizing the committee’s reservations was rejected by the World Heritage Committee. A number of member states noted in the debate that the ICOMOS report marked the first time the organization had not clearly rejected a site that it failed to recommend.
After more than an hour of technical debate, the committee adopted an amended text by Lebanon, Kuwait and Tunisia instead.
That text stated that the PA application met the criteria for both the World Heritage List and as an endangered site. The language made no specific reference to any religion or the cave, but other documents related to the inscription do mention the cave, including the press release UNESCO sent out after the vote.
PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki praised the outcome in a statement: “This vote is considered a success in the diplomatic battle Palestine is fighting on all fronts.
“Despite the heated Israeli campaign, spreading of lies, the distortion and falsification of facts regarding Palestinian rights, the world approved our right to register Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque under Palestinian sovereignty and as World Heritage sites,” said Maliki.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the vote “represents an affront to history. It undermines the trust that is needed for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to be successful. And it further discredits an already highly questionable UN agency.”
She added: “In 2011, in compliance with statutory funding restrictions, the US stopped funding UNESCO after it admitted the Palestinians as a member state. While the US is still on the 58-member UNESCO Executive Board, it no longer has voting rights in the UNESCO General Conference. The US is currently evaluating the appropriate level of its continued engagement at UNESCO.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon tweeted: “The UNESCO decision on Hebron & Tomb of Patriarchs is a moral blot. Shame on UNESCO.”
President Reuven Rivlin tweeted: “UNESCO seems intent on sprouting anti-Jewish lies, while it remains silent as the region’s heritage is destroyed by brutal extremists.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely described the vote as a “badge of shame for UNESCO, which time after time prefers to stand with the side of lies.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman reacted to the vote by describing UNESCO as a “politically biased, embarrassing and antisemitic organization.”
Education Minister Naftali Bennett joined in the criticism of the vote: “It is disappointing and disgraceful that, time and again, UNESCO denies history and distorts reality, knowingly serving those attempting to erase the Jewish state,” said Bennett. “Israel will not resume its cooperation with UNESCO so long as it remains a political tool rather than professional organization.”
Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said: “UNESCO’s decision to recognize the Cave of Patriarchs as a Palestinian heritage site is a despicable falsification of history. Does UNESCO not believe that the Bible is heritage? It’s a decision that, at best, stems from utter ignorance and, at worst, from hypocrisy and antisemitism.”
The 21 World Heritage Committee member states are: Angola, Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso, Croatia, Cuba, Finland, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, United Republic of Tanzania, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
Adam Rasgon, Eytan Halon and Shoshana Kranish contributed to this report. •