Jerusalem (IINA) - The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has adopted a resolution criticizing Israel for restricting worshipping in Al-Aqsa mosque and failing to protect Muslim heritage sites in the holy city of Jerusalem, according to media reports.
The resolution was approved in a vote by the 58-member executive board of the UNESCO, the Paris-based agency that designates and tries to protect cultural treasures around the world.
It “strongly condemns” what it calls “Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to their holy site, Al Aqsa Mosque” and “firmly deplores the continuous storming” of the mosque compound by “Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces,” The New York Times reported.
The resolution "deeply deplores the recent repression in East Jerusalem [Al-Quds], and the failure of Israel, the Occupying Power, to cease the persistent excavations and works in East Jerusalem particularly in and around the Old City," read the resolution, according to OnIslam.
It also calls for the "prompt reconstruction of schools, universities, cultural heritage sites, cultural institutions, media centers and places of worship that have been destroyed or damaged by the consecutive Israeli wars on Gaza".
It condemned "restrictions of freedom of worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque", reaffirmed other complaints about Israeli management of holy sites and Israeli actions in Al-Quds, the West Bank, and Gaza.
The six-page draft resolution also called on the international community to condemn Israel for urging "its citizens to bear arms in light of the recent terror wave".
The final version of the draft resolution was changed at the last minute to remove the main clause saying the Bouraq Wall in Jerusalem is an "integral part" of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
The approved text also reaffirmed that two holy sites, the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Al-Khalil [the Ibrahimi Mosque] and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem [Bilal bin Rabah mosque], were "an integral part of Palestine".
It was opposed by six countries, namely: the United States, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Estonia, while one member was absent.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking on Wednesday at a joint news conference in Ramallah with Palestinian Presient Mahmoud Abbas, said he was “deeply concerned by repeated provocations at the holy sites in Jerusalem, which have fueled the current outbreak of violence".
Palestine became a full member of UNESCO in 2011, a move widely seen as a major step toward recognition as an independent state, but it is not part of the executive board this year. Neither is Jordan, which is the custodian of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
The resolution also asked Israel to “respect the pre-1967 status quo” at the site, referring to the period before Israel conquered the Old City, along with the rest of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, from Jordan in the 1967 war. From 1948 until 1967, Israelis did not have access to the Old City compound, when it was under Jordan’s control.
The Palestinians have accused Israel of permitting increasing Jewish encroachment at the site and of plotting to divide it, charges that Israel has denied.
SM/IINA
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