Israel has slammed the UN as ‘anti-semitic’ over a vote declaring the Old City of Hebron, with its holy shrine sacred to both Jews and Muslims, an endangered world heritage site.
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has not officially recognised the site, located in the southern West Bank, as ‘Palestinian.’
However, Israel are concerned that the vote will deny the Jewish connection to the site.
The decision also obliges the UN’s World Heritage committee to review the situation in Hebron every year.
A committee of the UN’s cultural arm voted 12 to three – with six abstentions – to give heritage status to Hebron’s Old City in the occupied West Bank, which is home to more than 200,000 Palestinians and a few hundred Israeli settlers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday slammed the vote, calling it a ‘delusional decision’.
‘It is another delusional decision by UNESCO,’ Netanyahu said in Hebrew, in a video posted online.
‘This time they ruled the Tomb of the Patriarchs is a Palestinian site, meaning not a Jewish site, and it is in danger.’
The Palestinians hailed the vote as a diplomatic victory.
UNESCO spokeswoman Lucia Iglesias confirmed that on a Palestine motion, Hebron’s Old Town was put on the agency’s World Heritage list and on the list of heritage in danger.
She would not comment on whether Hebron had been recognized as Palestinian, saying the exact wording would be decided later.
It is the latest UNESCO decision to anger Netanyahu, following a resolution on Jerusalem in May which strongly criticised the Jewish state’s occupation of the eastern part of the city.
WHY IS THE CITY IMPORTANT?
The area includes the site known to Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque.
The site is holy to both religions, with Old Testament figures including Abraham believed to be buried there.
Abraham is a crucial figure in Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
In Judaism, he was the first figure to form the relationship between the Jewish people and God. In Islam, he is an important prophet.
The Ibrahimi Mosque has long been a flashpoint of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In 1994, Israeli-American Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims praying at the site, killing 29, before being beaten to death by survivors.
Netanyahu said at the time the ‘absurd’ vote denied the Jewish connection to the city.
However, the Palestinians hailed the UNESCO decision Friday to label the heart of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron a protected heritage site.
‘This vote is a success for the diplomatic battle fought by Palestine on all fronts, in the face of Israeli and American pressure on member states,’ the Palestinian foreign ministry said.
‘Despite a frantic Israeli campaign spreading lies and distorting the facts about the Palestinian rights, the world has recognised our right to register Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque under Palestinian sovereignty,’ the statement added.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: ‘It is due to Palestinian diplomacy and the support of our friends in the world, that UNESCO voted on two important resolutions; the first concerning Jerusalem and the second about Hebron for being two historical cities.’
The Israeli foreign ministry labelled the vote a ‘moral blot’ on the United Nations, saying it denied the Jewish history of the city.
‘The @UNESCO decision on Hebron & Tomb of Patriarchs is a moral blot. This irrelevant organisation promotes FAKE HISTORY. Shame on @UNESCO,’ foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted shortly after the vote.
Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman wrote on Twitter: ‘UNESCO is an antisemitic, politically biased organization whose decision are scandalous’