Abbas, UNESCO, and the Test of Diplomacy

Just a day before President Donald Trump received the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, for a summit meeting at the White House, UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, adopted a resolution on Jerusalem, the third in a whole sequence in the last two years that sought to delegitimize the State of Israel and its status as protector of the Holy City.
There has always been deception and missed truths in international diplomacy. In the 17th century there was a British diplomat named Sir Henry Wotton who said that an ambassador is an honest gentleman sent abroad to lie for his country, while UNESCO is a whole institution dedicated to lying, particularly against the rights of the State of Israel, and here they went again and did it.
In the past, UNESCO would speak about who has rights in the area of the Temple Mount. They would use only Arabic nomenclature – the Haram al-Sharif – when they would speak about it, and they ignored any Jewish presence or Jewish rights. Now the latest resolution addresses the issue of the illegality of Israel's position. The past resolutions and the current resolutions are completely false. 
How do we know that UNESCO has been distorting history and deceiving the international community on so many occasions? UNESCO not only dealt with the issue of Jerusalem, it focused in particular on the issue of Rachel's Tomb, which is located just beyond the southern border of Jerusalem. Around 2010, UNESCO began to speak about the Bilal Bin Rabah mosque in Bethlehem as an additional name to Rachel's Tomb. Where did they get this? The Palestinian Authority just a few years earlier started making that reference to Rachel's Tomb and in doing so tried again to take a famous Jewish holy site and convert it to an exclusively Islamic position in the Holy Land. 
The irony of this move by the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s is that if you go to the documents of the Ottoman Empire, we have an imperial firman of the Ottoman Sultan who describes Rachel's Tomb as a Jewish site. It never refers to it as the Bilal Bin Rabah mosque because Bilal Bin Rabah, who was the first muazzin of Islam according to the Islamic tradition, was buried in Damascus, not in Bethlehem. But not only did the Palestinian Authority put forward this twisted agenda, it was picked up by UNESCO, which is supposed to be responsible for some kind of educational truth. It wasn't.
Given this background, one might have thought that Mahmoud Abbas would have been very careful about letting the Palestinians and his Arab allies move forward with these kinds of Flat Earth Society resolutions, but he didn't. He wasn't careful, and the resolution went through despite the strong feelings by many of the Western powers. 
Ironically, if you visit the website of UNESCO, you'll find that they speak about building peace in the minds of men and women. This is the official tagline of UNESCO, but it's hardly what UNESCO really does. 
If we're ever to reach peace in the Middle East, then international organizations dedicated to education have to reflect the truth and not politicize deception. And if the Palestinians want to make peace with Israel, they will have to recognize Israel's fundamental rights in this region and not continue to engage in the delegitimization of the State of Israel by using international organizations and manipulating them in their favor.

Ambassador Dore Gold has served as President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs since 2000. From June 2015 until October 2016 he served as Director-General of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Previously he served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN (1997-1999), and as an advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

ISRAEL MATZAV: Muslims desecrate Meorath HaMachpeila (Cave of the Patriarchs), no one calls it terrorism, UNESCO not found

Muslim worshipers at the Machpeila cave in Hebron destroyed two mezuzoth (parchment scrolls that Jews affix to the doorposts of their buildings) over the weekend. So far, no one has called it terrorism.  UNESCO, which wanted to declare the Machpeila cave a heritage site in a bid to prevent Jews from going there, has been silent. Only a few rabbisare protesting.

Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, who serves as Deputy Religious Affairs Minister and Supervisor of Holy Sites, visited the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron after receiving reports of the vandalism.’‘

Jewish worshipers who arrived at the site after Muslim prayers on Friday were horrified to find widespread desecration of the holy tomb. Two mezuzahs – the cases containing Jewish holy scriptures affixed to the doorpost, and the scriptures contained therein – had been torn off and stone. A third was damaged.

The Muslim worshipers had also hurled mud and garbage around the site – Judaism’s second holiest, after the Temple Mount – where the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah lie interred.

“This vandalism must be condemned by the heads of state,” Rabbi Ben Dahan told journalists. “Our forefathers are here, and the matriarchs! As a Jew, I call [on the public] to avoid silence and to protest this ‘price tag’.”

If only anyone cared....

ELDER OF ZIYON: UNESCO's bigotry against Jews

From TOI last week:

During a debate at the 37th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, currently taking place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Jordanian delegation, at the behest of the Palestinian Authority, submitted a resolution slamming Israel over its Jerusalem policies.

The resolution censured Israel for a number of developments in the city, including the construction of a visitors’ center, plans to build an elevator by the Western Wall, and accusations of archeological excavations said to be damaging Muslim sites atop the Temple Mount. It also took Israel to task for allegedly failing to hand over to the committee critical information on the state of the Old City.

“The WHC requests Israel to immediately desist from all acts, omissions and the harmful excavations,” according to a joint press released issued Sunday by the Jordanian and Palestinian UNESCO delegations. “The WHC also asks Israel to stop all violations that change of facts on the ground and damages the authenticity and integrity of the Old City of Jerusalem, especially the recent escalatory measures that have been taken against al-Aqsa Mosque and the obstruction of the Jordanian Awqaf’s conservation of the Holy Sites.”

The resolution reportedly passed, with eight of the 21 World Heritage Committee member states voting in favor and 10 abstaining. Only Germany, Switzerland and Estonia reportedly voted against it.

“Passing, once more, a fabricated political decision against Israel, which portrays nothing but the outstanding creative writing skills and unique sense of imagination of both the Palestinians and Jordanians, bears devastating ramifications on the future of UNESCO,” the head of the Israeli delegation said after the vote. “It is rather unfortunate that at such a critical point in time for UNESCO, the Palestinians and their active partners consciously choose to undermine the core values and identity of this organization to an extent that will certainly lead to its ultimate destruction.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated that the resolution was adopted against the better judgment of the majority and “is nothing but a heap of disconnected-from-reality statements.” There is no linkage between the language of the resolution and the actual facts on the ground, the statement continued, “as the text only reflects the clichés of the anti-Israel bubble which the Palestinians cultivate within UNESCO at the expense of the worthy causes the organization is supposed to promote around the world.”

Nevertheless, the statement said, “Israel will uphold its commitments and its sovereign responsibility by continuing to ensure freedom of worship to all faiths in Jerusalem, even as UNESCO insists on turning its back on reality and wreaking damage to the interests of member-states through the regurgitation of the dictates of Palestinian propaganda.”

UNESCO has online its synopsis of reports submitted by Israel and Jordan in February about Israeli actions in Jerusalem. 

The Jordanian part starts off by saying who waa behind it:

The report received from the Permanent Delegation of Jordan states that it has been prepared partly in consultation with the Permanent Delegation of Palestine to UNESCO. It provides information based on the observations and report of the Jordanian Awqaf (JA) and the Jordanian National Committee for World Heritage.

Essentially, UNESCO accepted the lies of the Arabs wholesale.

Note that UNESCO never said a word about the massive destruction of archaeological treasures by the same Waqf whose words it is now accepting without question.

My Right Word obtained the actual text of the UNESCO resolution. 

Some of its paragraphs show that UNESCO essentially wants to kill Jerusalem by ensuring that Jordan and UNESCO have veto power over anything Israel does.

5. Deeply deplores the persistence of Israeli archaeological excavations and works in the Old City of Jerusalem and on both sides of its Walls and the failure of Israel to cease such works, and requests the Israeli authorities to prohibit all such excavations and works, in conformity with its obligations under the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols, the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972, and as clearly stated in the Delhi UNESCO Recommendation of 1956 concerning excavations undertaken in occupied territories;

6. Reiterates the necessity of cooperation to facilitate access to the Old City of Jerusalem and both sides of its Walls, including religious heritage sites therein, in the context of the UNESCO Conventions for the protection of the cultural heritage, and expresses its concern regarding the restricting obstacles imposed by the Israeli authorities on the freedom of access provided to Jordanian and Waqf experts to safeguard such sites;

7. Also deplores, in this regard, the damaging effect of the Jerusalem Light rail (tram line), itinerant at few meters from the Walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, which severely affects the visual integrity and the authentic character of the site and urges Israel to restore the original character of the site in conformity with its obligations under the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols and the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972 as well as the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Historic Urban Landscape;

8. Regrets the Jerusalem Municipality plan to build a two-line cable car system to connect the Mughrabi Quarter with the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, and also urges Israel to prevent any damage to the integrity and authenticity of the property by abandoning the above mentioned project in conformity with its obligations under the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols and the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972;

9. Also regrets the decision of the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee, that approved the construction of a visitor centre on the Givati Parking lot in Silwan at a distance of twenty meters from the Walls of the Old City as well as its approval of the so called “Liba House” project, a huge structure of three storeys and approximately 3700 square meters in the Old City of Jerusalem, the extension of the Strauss Building and the Western Wall elevator, and further urges Israel to renounce to the above mentioned projects in conformity with its obligations under the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols and the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972;

10. Requests the World Heritage Centre to continue applying the Reinforced Monitoring Mechanism to the Old City of Jerusalem on both sides of its Walls, including the Mughrabi Ascent, and also requests it to report every four months on this matter;

The resolution also praises Jordan's plan for the Mughrabi ascent and slams Israel's, without explaining exactly why.

Its reference to "both sides of its Walls" is UNESCO's way of saying that the City of David archaeological project should also be stopped.

But if you want proof that UNESCO has been thoroughly taken over by antisemites, you only need to read this paragraph:

23. Further regrets Israeli religious-extremist groups' provocative incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound through the Mughrabi Gate, and urges the Israeli authorities to take the necessary measures to prevent such abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity of the Compound and inflame tension on the ground;

So UNESCO is explicitly calling on Jews to be banned from Judaism's holiest site, because their peaceful and respectful visits are "abuses" and "inflame tension."

Barring Jews from the Temple Mount is nothing short of bigotry against Jews. And now this bigotry is sanctioned by UNESCO.

Once you see that paragraph, you know that the rest of the resolution is just fancy words to cover the Arab - and now UNESCO's - goal to deprive Jews of their cultural heritage. Which means that UNESCO is now explicitly violating its own mandate.