AJC on 'Shameful' UNESCO Vote Designating Jewish Holy Sites as 'Palestinian'

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Nov 02, 2010, 05:34 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Jewish Committee condemned the recent decision of the international cultural body UNESCO to designate two historic Jewish sites in the Land of Israel as "Palestinian."

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In a 44-1 vote, with 12 abstentions, the UNESCO board declared the "Haram al-Ibrahim/the Cave of the Patriarchs and Bilal bin Rabah Mosque/Rachel's Tomb" to be "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories" and asserted "that any unilateral action by the Israeli authorities is to be considered a violation of international law." In addition, Rachel's Tomb was named as a mosque. Both sites are among the most sacred in the Jewish tradition.

"This is a shameful decision which places UNESCO in the camp of those who would deny the historic ties of the Jewish people to the land of Israel," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "This politically motivated exercise in revisionism will never wipe out the truth: that these sites have always been Jewish, are Jewish and will forever be Jewish."

UNESCO demanded that Israel remove the two sites from its list of national heritage sites after protests from Arab and Muslim countries, including Turkey. Only the United States opposed the resolution.

"Once again, the United States has courageously stood up for justice and truth in the halls of the United Nations," said Harris. "We echo the words of the United States Ambassador to UNESCO, who stated, 'we cannot support this draft decision, which supposes authority that UNESCO does not and should not possess.'"

SOURCE American Jewish Committee