June 29, 2012
The UN cultural body UNESCO overrode Israeli objections
Friday to urgently grant world heritage status to a church in the Palestinian
city of Bethlehem worshipped as the birthplace of Jesus.
UNESCO's 13-6 secret vote to add the Church of the
Nativity and its pilgrimage route to the prestigious list was received with a
round of rousing applause and a celebratory fist pump by the beaming head of
the Palestinian delegation at the meeting in Russia's second city of Saint
Petersburg.
"These sites are threatened with total destruction
through the Israeli occupation, through the building of the separation wall,
because of all the Israeli sanctions and the measures that have been taken to
stifle the Palestinian identity," the Palestinian delegate said after the
vote.
The Israeli delegate said the Jewish state supported
awarding world heritage status to the ancient church under a completely
different procedure that carried no implications for the Middle East peace
process.
"The decision taken now was totally political and
does great damage in our opinion to the (UN) convention and its image,"
the delegate said.
The bid, the first since the Palestinians won
controversial membership of UNESCO in October 2011, was submitted "on an
emergency basis" because the Palestinians say urgent restoration work is
needed.
Their membership has cost the body tens of millions of
dollars in lost funding from the United States, Israel's staunchest ally.
Israel said the "emergency basis" status
essentially meant that the United Nations as a world body was backing the
Palestinian view that the church was threatened by the Jewish state's troops.
It had proposed co-sponsoring the church's application at
a future date ~ an idea whose prospects seem remote amid a continuing
stalemate in the grueling Middle East peace process.
The Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Churches for
their part have only given lukewarm approval to the idea because of the dangers
the move potentially poses to their own rights to the shrine.
The Palestinian bid had faced serious hurdles, including
the continued opposition from the United States and Israel, a negative report
from the body that evaluates sites for UNESCO and, reportedly, domestic
disagreements.
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