Palestinian deputy ambassador to UNESCO Mounir Anastas, speaks at the organization's headquarters in Paris on October 17, 2016

PARIS - A Palestinian representative to UNESCO defended on Tuesday the omission of any reference to Jewish claims to the Temple Mount in a contentious resolution passed last week about Jerusalem.

Mounir Anastas told reporters in Paris, where UNESCO is headquartered, that the vote was "about occupation."

Israel has protested the resolution's failure to include any reference to the site where al-Aqsa Mosque stands as revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, or the site where two ancient temples once stood.

Elias Sanbar, a second Palestinian representative to the organization, said that Jordan had "wanted" to include the Jewish reference.

Sanbar asserted that this was "impossible." He claimed that the Geneva Conventions required referring to the site by its pre-occupation name, or the period before Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Sanbar also suggested, however, that it may have been possible to revise the resolution to include a Jewish reference to the site. "This text is not holy, it can be changed," he said.

Anastas accused reporters of going around in circles about the issue. "You're just asking the same question over and over again,” he said. "This resolution is about occupation not about a name.”

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UNESCO officials, who have already issued clarifications to Israel about the resolution, said they would have preferred a more consensual process.

“UNESCO has always worked by consensus, but not this time. Twenty-four member states voted in favor of the resolution, 26 abstained 6 voted against it,” UNESCO media chief George Papagiannis said.

Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama Hacohen called Palestinian diplomacy over the resolution "brutal."

“This was not a resolution aiming to protect Jerusalem, it was a political initiative meant to harm Israel’s sovereignty and to rewrite history” Hacohen said. “It’s not legitimate morally or historically.”

“No other country has been treated this way in UNESCO," Hacohen added.

Hacohen said was hopeful, though, that Israel would someday reverse the decision the same as a 1975 United Nations resolution condemning Zionism as racism was eventually revoked.</s>Image copyright AFP Image caption The Arab-backed resolution criticises Israel's activities at holy places in Jerusalem

The United Nations cultural agency has adopted a controversial resolution which makes no reference to Jewish ties to a key holy site in Jerusalem.

Unesco's executive board approved the Arab-sponsored resolution, which repeatedly refers to only the Islamic name for a hilltop complex which is also the holiest site in Judaism.

The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif to Muslims.

The resolution caused Israel to freeze co-operation with Unesco last week.

The stated aim of the text was "the safeguarding of the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem".

It criticises Israel's activities at holy places in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

'Playing games'

But it is how it refers to the sites which prompted Israel to act against the cultural body.

While acknowledging the "importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls for the three monotheistic religions", the document refers to the sacred hilltop only by the name "al-Aqsa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif" (Noble Sanctuary).

It is the location of two Biblical Jewish temples and is flanked by the Western Wall, venerated by Jews as part of the original supporting wall of the temple compound.

Haram al-Sharif is also the place where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven, and is the third holiest site in Islam.

The draft refers to the precinct in front of the wall as "al-Buraq Plaza 'Western Wall Plaza'" - placing single quote marks only around "Western Wall", giving the name as it is known to Jews less weight than the one by which it is known to Muslims.

Unesco's executive board chairman Michael Worbs said on Friday he would have liked more time to work out a compromise.

He told Israeli television network Channel 10: "It's very exceptional what happened yesterday, and I'm sorry for that."

On Tuesday, Israel's Unesco ambassador, Carmel Shama Hacohen, accused the Palestinians of playing "games".

"This is the wrong place to solve problems between countries or people," he told AFP.

But Palestine's deputy ambassador to Unesco, Mounir Anastas, welcomed the adoption of the resolution, saying he hoped it would put pressure on the Israeli authorities to "stop all their violations", particularly the excavation of sites in and around the Old City.

Image copyright AP Image caption Israel's Unesco ambassador Carmel Shama Hacohen accused Palestinians of playing "games"

The resolution repeatedly denounced Israeli actions, including the use of force, imposition of restrictions on Muslim worshippers and archaeological work. Israel regards such criticism as politically motivated.

'Delusional decision'

It led Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett to say Unesco was ignoring "thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem" and aiding "Islamist terror".

Unesco chief Irina Bokova also criticised the draft resolution, saying "different peoples worship the same places, sometimes under different names. The recognition, use of and respect for these names is paramount".

However, Mr Bennett said Ms Bokova's statement was insufficient. "Words are important, but they are not a replacement to the actions of the organisation she heads," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Facebook post that Unesco had become a "theatre of the absurd" in taking "another delusional decision".

"To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids. By this absurd decision, Unesco has lost what little legitimacy it had left."</s>The UN cultural agency votes on two resolutions Tuesday on the occupied Palestinian territories which Israel believes ignore Jewish ties to religious sites in east Jerusalem.

Israel has suspended its cooperation with Paris-based UNESCO, which oversees World Heritage sites, over the controversial resolutions which were proposed by Arab countries.

They refer to “Occupied Palestine” and are critical of Israel’s management of Palestinian religious sites, but it is the names used to describe key sites that appear to have infuriated Israel the most.

They refer to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem’s Old City — Islam’s third holiest site — without any reference to the site also being revered by Jews as the Temple Mount.

Last Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained that saying “Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall is like saying China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or Egypt has no connection to the pyramids.”

It is not the first time UNESCO has been the scene of tensions. Arab countries have sought to use the organisation to apply international pressure on Israel and its backers before.

In April, it passed a resolution condemning “Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque”, also failing to mention the site’s Jewish name of the Temple Mount.

That led Netanyahu to propose a “seminar on Jewish history” for UN staff in Israel.

In 2011 the Palestinians were admitted as a member state of the organisation, which led the United States to suspend its payments to UNESCO.

The latest resolutions created unease at the top of the organisation, with Michael Worbs, who chairs UNESCO’s executive board, calling for Tuesday’s vote to be put off so a compromise could be worked out.

“We need more time and dialogue between the members of the board to reach a consensus,” he told AFP.

And UNESCO chief Irina Bokova distanced herself from the resolutions, saying in a statement: “Nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space.”

Participants said the two resolutions, adopted by 24 votes to six with 26 abstentions and two absentees, were to be put Tuesday to UNESCO’s Executive Board, which generally votes with the line taken by committees.</s>PARIS (AP) — UNESCO's executive board on Tuesday approved a resolution that Israel says denies the deep historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem — and that has angered Israel's government and many Jews around the world.



The board adopted the measure by consensus in its morning session at Paris-based UNESCO. A draft form of the resolution had already been approved by a commission last week.



The resolution is not expected to have direct impact on Jerusalem itself, but it deepened tensions within UNESCO, which is also facing a diplomatic dispute between Japan and China that threatens funding.



The resolution, titled "Occupied Palestine," is the latest of several measures at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization over decades that Israelis see as evidence of ingrained anti-Israel bias within the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters. Israel's concern has mounted since UNESCO states admitted Palestine as a member in 2011.



Israel last week suspended its ties with UNESCO over the draft resolution, which uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims. The site includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray.



Jews refer to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City as the Temple Mount. Muslims refer to it as al-Haram al-Sharif, Arabic for the Noble Sanctuary, and it includes the Al-Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.



Israel had already suspended its funding to UNESCO when Palestinian membership was approved, along with the United States, which used to provide 22 percent of the agency's budget.



"We won't negotiate and we won't take part in these ugly games," the Israeli ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, told The Associated Press after the ratification. "There is no place for these games in UNESCO. This noble organization was established to preserve history, not to rewrite it."



The longstanding dispute is also linked to Israel's refusal to grant visas to UNESCO experts to go in the country and assess the level of preservation of the holy sites in Jerusalem.



Elias Sanbar, Palestinian ambassador to UNESCO, told the AP this refusal to allow a UNESCO mission was a "very big problem."



"The aim of the mission was not to say that Israel was an occupying power or not, the whole world knows it," he told the AP. "The aim was to say: according to the field of competence of UNESCO, are the monuments and historical sites of UNESCO well-preserved, and if restored, well-restored according to the rules of restoration?"



On this issue, Shama-Hacohen said "there will not be any mission to Jerusalem under political decisions —with the words 'occupying power' with false allegations of Israel, we will never agree to such a mission. Jerusalem is an open city. Jerusalem is a transparent city."



Israel and the Palestinian authority are not members of the executive board of UNESCO.</s>AMMAN — The Jordan Press Association (JPA) on Wednesday lauded UNESCO's recent draft resolution clarifying that there are no Jewish religious connections to Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif.

In a statement, the JPA said the decision was a result of joint efforts between the Jordanian and Palestinian political leaderships, with Jordan playing the biggest role in safeguarding Al Aqsa Mosque that "suffers from fierce assaults by Israeli settlers".

The association called on Arab and Muslim nations to support the Jordanian and Palestinian efforts in defending Al Aqsa, and Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem and Palestine in general, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The resolution urged Israel to return to the historical status quo in Al Aqsa, which prevailed until September 2000.

Also on Wednesday, the Jordanian Association of the Return and Refugees praised the UNESCO decision, which considers Al Aqsa Mosque a holy place for Muslims alone, and affirms that Jews have no connection to the mosque or the Western Wall inside the mosque's borders.

The decision affirms Muslims' full right over the historical and religious site, which Israel, throughout its occupation, unsuccessfully tried to find a connection to, according to a statement the association sent to The Jordan Times.

In addition, several political parties, professional associations, and academics commended the resolution and the joint efforts Jordan and Palestine exerted to reach it.</s>Israel suspending ties with UNESCO following vote denying Jewish connection to Jerusalem

(JTA) – Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel would suspend its cooperation with UNESCO because of the U.N. agency’s decision to ignore Jewish ties to holy sites in Jerusalem. Bennett’s statement on Friday, Oct. 14 followed passionate condemnations by Israel as well as international Jewish groups and communities of a vote the previous day in Paris by the executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Through a majority of 24 to 6 votes, the board passed a preliminary version of a resolution that calls several sites holy to Judaism only by their Islamic names without mentioning its Jewish names in Hebrew or English. The sites include the Temple Mount, referred to as Al-Ḥaram Al-Sharif.

Israeli officials will neither meet UNESCO representatives nor engage in cooperation in international conferences or professional cooperation with the organization, Bennett said in a statement that followed the outpouring of condemnations – including by a U.S. official who called the vote “one-sided and unhelpful.”

Bennett in his statement said of the UNESCO countries, “Your decision denies history and encourages terror. Those who give prizes to the supporters of Jihad in Jerusalem the same week that two Jews are murdered in the city could God forbid encourage more victims.”

The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia voted against the resolution and 26 countries abstained. Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO called the voting an improvement to previous votes by the U.N. agency, saying Western countries had supported previous measures with similar language on Jerusalem. Russia and China were among those that backed the resolution.

“This vote was certainly unpleasant, but I’m very pleased with the result,” Ambassador Carmel Shama-Hacohen told Army Radio Friday morning. “Our goal was to bring back France and our friends in Europe to not support the Palestinian resolution.”

He noted that Sweden, whose government is a harsh critic of Israel and the only EU Cabinet member that recognizes the Palestinian Authority as a state, also sat out the vote, as did India, which historically has supported anti-Israel resolutions in U.N. forums.

France and Sweden both abstained from Thursday’s vote after supporting a UNESCO resolution in April that also ignored the site’s Jewish ties. The April vote saw 33 votes in favor, 6 against and 17 abstentions.

Classified as pertaining to “Occupied Palestine,” the UNESCO resolution passed Thursday was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan. While it affirms “the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions,” it contains two references to Judaism: One in describing holy sites in Hebron and the other in decrying “the enforced creation of a new Jewish prayer platform south of the Mughrabi Ascent in Al-Buraq Plaza.”

The so-called al-Buraq Plaza is better known as the Western Wall Plaza – possibly Judaism’s holiest site. The use of the Arabic-language name is a recent development lifted from Hamas literature, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The chairman of UNESCO’s executive board said he hoped for a delay of a full vote on a controversial resolution.

“We need more time and dialogue between the members of the board to reach a consensus,” Michael Worbs told the French news agency AFP. The resolution was expected to go to a full vote on Tuesday, but Worbs indicated to AFP that he hoped it would be delayed. “For 40 years, UNESCO has always managed to find consensual decisions on the Middle East,” he said. “But since autumn 2010 it has become more and more difficult.”

Also Friday, UNESCO’s director-general, Irina Bokova, seemed to express a different view from that expressed in the resolution. “To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list [in 1981],” Bokova said.</s>UNESCO's executive board on Tuesday approved a resolution that Israel says denies the deep historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem — and that has angered Israel's government and many Jews around the world.

The board adopted the measure by consensus in its morning session at Paris-based UNESCO. A draft form of the resolution had already been approved by a commission last week.

The resolution is not expected to have direct impact on Jerusalem itself, but it deepened tensions within UNESCO, which is also facing a diplomatic dispute between Japan and China that threatens funding.

The resolution, titled "Occupied Palestine," is the latest of several measures at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization over decades that Israelis see as evidence of ingrained anti-Israel bias within the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters. Israel's concern has mounted since UNESCO states admitted Palestine as a member in 2011.

Israel last week suspended its ties with UNESCO over the draft resolution, which uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims. The site includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray.

Jews refer to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City as the Temple Mount. Muslims refer to it as al-Haram al-Sharif, Arabic for the Noble Sanctuary, and it includes the Al-Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Israel had already suspended its funding to UNESCO when Palestinian membership was approved, along with the United States, which used to provide 22 percent of the agency's budget.

The longstanding dispute is also linked to Israel's refusal to grant visas to UNESCO experts to go in the country and assess the level of preservation of the holy sites in Jerusalem.

And now Japan, UNESCO's second-biggest funder, is threatening to halt funding. Japan announced last week it has withheld its annual UNESCO dues, saying it wants to make sure the U.N. body properly functions to foster trust among member nations. The decision is believed linked to UNESCO's listing last year of Chinese Rape of Nanking documents as a memory of the world.</s>UNESCO's executive board is meeting for a vote on a resolution that minimizes Jewish ties to holy sites in Jerusalem.

The board's decision is scheduled in the Paris-based organization around midday on Tuesday. A majority of those voting is required for adoption.

Israel last week suspended its ties with the U.N. cultural agency over the measure.

The draft resolution, titled "Occupied Palestine" and sponsored by several Arab countries, uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, which includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray.

Israelis and many Jews around the world saw it as the latest example of an ingrained bias against Israel at the United Nations.</s>(JTA) — The executive board of the United Nations cultural agency voted to adopt a controversial resolution that denies a Jewish connection to the Old City of Jerusalem.

The board reportedly formally approved the resolution on Tuesday morning in the final day of its meeting in Paris.

The approval comes five days after the resolution passed in a preliminary vote of the executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In that vote, there were 2 4 votes in favor and 6 against, with 26 countries abstaining. The United States, the United Kingdom and Germany were among those that voted against the resolution. They were joined by Lithuania, the Netherlands and Estonia. Other European countries abstained.

On Monday, Mexico changed its vote from “in favor” to abstain, saying in a statement” “Changing the vote reiterates the recognition that the government of Mexico gives to the undeniable link of the Jewish people to cultural heritage located in East Jerusalem. It also reflects the deep appreciation that this government has for the Jewish community and in particular for their significant contributions to the welfare and economic, social and cultural development of Mexico.”

Mexico fired its Jewish ambassador to UNESCO, however, after Andre Roemer in a personal protest walked out of last week’s vote in Paris, leaving his deputy to cast the country’s vote.

Discussion and a vote on the resolution were postponed from the board’s meeting in July.

The UNESCO resolution reportedly refers to the Temple Mount several times as Al Haram Al Sharif, the Islamic term for the Temple Mount, without mentioning that it is the holiest site in Judaism, according to UN Watch. It also uses the term Buraq Plaza, placing Western Wall Plaza in quotes, appearing to deny a Jewish connection to the site. The Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron is referred to as the al-Ḥaram al-Ibrahimi and Rachel’s Tomb, outside Bethlehem, is noted as the Bilal ibn Rabaḥ Mosque.

A similar resolution was adopted by UNESCO’s executive board in April.</s>RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Mexico has fired its ambassador to UNESCO, Andre Roemer, who is Jewish, for protesting against his country’s decision to vote for a resolution denying Jewish ties to Jerusalem.

“For not having informed diligently and with meticulousness of the context in which the voting process occurred, for reporting to representatives of countries other than Mexico about the sense of his vote, and for making public documents and official correspondence subject to secrecy,” read the official statement released on Oct. 17.

However, the Latin American country announced it will now change its vote from “in favor” to abstain on the proposal concerning the preservation of cultural heritage and religion in eastern Jerusalem.

“Changing the vote reiterates the recognition that the government of Mexico gives to the undeniable link of the Jewish people to cultural heritage located in East Jerusalem. It also reflects the deep appreciation that this government has for the Jewish community and in particular for their significant contributions to the welfare and economic, social and cultural development of Mexico,” the statement also said.

For the first time since 2010, Mexico will oppose a proposal by the Palestinian-Arab bloc in UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

“Sadly, the ambassador to UNESCO was sacrificed, but it meant a change to the perennial tradition of following the vote of the Latin American bloc, which passed an absurd and biased resolution by a majority,” wrote Jewish Mexican news portal Enlace Judio.

In a personal protest, Roemer walked out of last week’s vote in Paris, leaving his deputy to cast the country’s vote. He also apparently contemplated resigning his post, but was urged not to by Israel’s ambassador Carmel Shama HaCohen, who wrote him a personal letter praising him as a friend of the Jewish state.

UNESCO’s resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, referred to the Temple Mount and Western Wall — Judaism’s holiest sites — only by their Muslim names, and condemned Israel as “the occupying power” for various actions taken in both places.

Mexico was one of the 24 countries that voted in favor of the resolution. Six nations, including the United States, Germany and Britain, voted against and another 26 abstained.

Following the vote, Israel suspended cooperation with the UN cultural organization. In a letter sent to UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, Israel’s Education Minister Naftali Bennett accused the body of ignoring “thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem” and aiding “Islamist terror.”

Bokova herself distanced herself from the resolutions in a statement, saying “nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space.”
UNESCO's executive board approves the "Occupied Palestine" resolution which reaffirms the cultural heritage of Palestine, especially East Jerusalem, and criticizes certain Israeli actions regarding the Palestinian territories. For the land in Jerusalem where the Al-Aqsa Mosque stands, the board uses only Islamic naming terms without also mentioning Jewish or Christian historical references.