UNESCO backs resolution ignoring Jewish link to Temple Mount

UNESCO backs resolution ignoring Jewish link to Temple Mount - By Raphael Ahren - http://www.timesofisrael.com/unesco-backs-resolution-ignoring-jewish-link-to-temple-mount/

 

UN body refers to holy site only by its Muslim names, condemns Israel for 'aggressions' against civilians in Jerusalem compound; Israeli officials call decision 'anti-Semitic'

 

The United Nations' cultural arm on Thursday passed a resolution ignoring Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in a move derided in Israel as "anti-Semitic" and absurd.

 

The resolution used only Muslim names for the Jerusalem Old City holy sites and was harshly critical of Israel for what it termed "provocative abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity" of the area.

 

Twenty-four countries in the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization backed the document, while six voted against and 26 abstained at a meeting in Paris.

 

The tally was a slight improvement over a similar vote in April, which was supported by 33 countries, with six nations opposing and 17 abstaining.

 

The controversial resolution starts by affirming the "importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions," but then goes on to accuse Israel - which it consistently calls "the occupying power" - of a long list of wrongdoings.

 

The text "firmly deplores the continuous storming" of the Al-Aqṣa Mosque/Al-Ḥaram AlSharif - Muslim names for the Temple Mount compound and the mosque located there - "by Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces."

 

It also decries Israeli works in the Western Wall Plaza, which it terms the al-Burak plaza after the Muslim name for the site.

 

The Western Wall, the outer retaining wall of the Second Jewish Temple, is the holiest site where Jews today can pray, and sits at the bottom of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest spot.

 

The Al-Aqsa Mosque, regarded by Muslims as the third-holiest site in Islam, sits atop the Mount, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, along with the Dome of the Rock.

 

While Jews are allowed to enter the site, their worship there is banned under arrangements instituted by Israel when it captured the area from Jordan in 1967.

 

The Temple Mount compound has been a repeated flash-point for clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces.

 

The UNESCO resolution "deeply decries the continuous Israeli aggressions against civilians including Islamic religious figures and priests, decries the forceful entering into the different mosques and historic buildings" into Muslim holy sites by Israelis, including employees of "the so-called 'Israeli Antiquities,'" Israel is urged to "end these aggressions and abuses which inflame the tension on the ground and between faiths."

 

In June, the Palestinian delegation to UNESCO claimed Israel was preventing free Muslim access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a claim Israel has vociferously denied.

 

President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday led the choir of Israeli denouncements, slamming the resolution even before the vote had taken place in Paris.

 

"No forum or body in the world can come and deny the connection between the Jewish people, the Land of Israel and Jerusalem - and any such body that does so simply embarrasses itself," he said at an event in his Jerusalem residence. "We can understand criticism, but you cannot change history."

 

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel sent an urgent letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling on the prime minister, who also holds the position of foreign minister, to act by encouraging nations to end funding for the UN.

 

 

"We in the government in general, and you as the foreign minister, should demand that the nations of the world condemn these anti-Semitic decisions, and immediately stop funding the UN," he wrote.

 

He also called for the government to "strengthen the Temple Mount, and to to increase the control and Jewish presence in the holiest place for Jews - the Temple Mount."

 

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog said UNESCO is giving a "bad name to diplomacy."

 

"Whoever wants to rewrite history, to distort fact, and to completely invent the fantasy that the Western Wall and Temple Mount have no connection to the Jewish people, is telling a terrible lie that only serves to increase hatred," he said. "On this matter there is no disagreement among the people of Israel, and I urge UNESCO to withdraw this bizarre resolution and to engage in protecting, not distorting, human history."

 

The change in voting patterns was likely the result of an intensive lobbying effort by the Israeli government that followed the passing of the April resolution.

 

At the time, Netanyahu wrote an angry letter to French President Francois Hollande, who later conceded that Paris's support for the resolution was a mistake.

 

Russia and China, along with the resolution's sponsors - Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan - and other Muslim nations voted in favor.

 

In July, Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), issued a statement affirming that the Old City is sacred to the three monotheistic faiths.

 

"The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities have a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city. To deny or conceal any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription in 1981 as a World Heritage site," Bokova said in the statement.

 

 

Editorial: UNESCO on the Temple Mount - http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/JPost-Editorial-UNESCO-on-the-mount-469958

 

Palestinians' preoccupation with ancient history has little to do with culture or science and everything to do with politics.

 

The sun rotates around the world. The world is flat.

 

There was never a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount.

 

When people make foolish declarations with conviction they are usually motivated by a political agenda or religion or both.

 

The ongoing Palestinian campaign to erase Jewish ties to the holy places of Jerusalem falls under this category. Last October, the Palestinian Authority failed in its attempt to garner enough support in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for a resolution that ignores Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and that mentions only Muslim ties to the site.

 

This October it will try again.

 

In April, UNESCO's 58-member Executive Board met in Paris and adopted a resolution that spoke solely of Muslim ties to the Temple Mount.

 

The 21-members of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee had been poised to vote on the matter as it wrapped up its 40th session in Istanbul.

 

A botched coup attempt against the Erdogan government postponed the vote, which is slated to take place later this month in Paris at the World Heritage Committee's headquarters.

 

The resolution had been initially submitted by Jordan and the PA as part of the bureaucratic process by which the World Heritage Committee reaffirmed the placement of Jerusalem and its Old City ramparts on its World Heritage in Danger list.

 

As part of the confirmation process Palestinians and Jordan introduced a text attacking Israeli actions, including archeological digs within Jerusalem's Old City which continue to unearth proof of Jewish ties to the area. But although the Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site, it is referred to solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram a-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary).

 

Palestinians' preoccupation with ancient history has little to do with culture or science and everything to do with politics. The underlying assumption behind Palestinian activism in UNESCO seems to be that if Jews' ties to Jerusalem and to the Temple can be denied or questioned, it serves the cause of Muslims who stake a claim to the place. Conversely, admitting the simple historical truth that there was a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount is, according to this mode of thinking, a way of weakening Palestinian and Muslim claims to Jerusalem. Or at the very least it calls into question Palestinian claims that they are the indigenous population and the Jews are trespassers.

 

Muslims' interest in Jerusalem has ebbed and flowed in concert with historical developments. During the Crusades, Muslims emphasized the importance of the city.

 

Jerusalem's importance in the eyes of Muslim increased considerably after the Six Day War, when control of the city fell into the hands of Israel. A concerted attempt was launched to reject Jewish ties to Jerusalem. At other times in history, Muslims were more willing to admit the centrality of Jerusalem for Jews. For instance, in a guide to al-Haram a-Sharif published in 1930 by an organization called the Supreme Muslim Council, the authors admitted "its identity with Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute."

 

All of this is, however, beside the point. Jews' claims to sovereignty in Israel should not be based on the veracity of archeological finds or the willingness of international forums to recognize Jewish ties to the Land of Israel. No other nation's sovereignty hinges on the findings at an archeological dig.

 

Israelis and Palestinians are engaged in a territorial dispute.

 

But referencing ancient history does not clarify the conflict, it only complicates it further by engaging in a game of who was here first when the question at hand is how can we live together now.

 

No one with intellectual honesty seriously doubts that the Jewish people has religious, cultural and historical ties to the Land of Israel. Any attempt to deny these ties is a perversion of science. That UNESCO is lending its hand to such perversion is a tragic testimony to the sorrowful state of UN institutions.

 

But all of this is irrelevant and counterproductive to the real issue: finding a way in which Israelis and Palestinians can coexist peacefully on a tiny slab of land that happens to be endowed with a rich, resonant history.

Netanyahu leads angry denunciations of 'absurd' UNESCO decision - http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-leads-angry-denunciations-of-absurd-unesco-decision/

 

UN body's motion ignoring Jewish link to Temple Mount draws scorn from across Israeli political spectrum, including charges of anti-Semitism

 

Furious Israeli politicians accused the UN's cultural arm of anti-Semitism Thursday in the wake of a resolution approved by UNESCO that erases the Jewish connection the Jerusalem holy sites.

 

Lawmakers from both the right and left of the political spectrum said the decision, which refers to the Temple Mount and Western Wall only by their Muslim names and condemns Israel as "the occupying power" for various actions taken in both places, was ill-befitting of UNESCO.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision "absurd," while President Reuven Rivlin called it an "embarrassment" for UNESCO. The Executive Board of UNESCO is next week set to approve the resolution, which passed Thursday at the committee stage.

 

Culture Minister Miri Regev slammed the resolution as "shameful and anti-Semitic," and Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel called for Israel to increase the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, a flashpoint site governed by a tense status quo, in response.

 

"To say that Israel has no link to the Temple Mount is like saying that China has no link to the Great Wall or that Egypt has no connection to the Pyramids," Netanyahu said, adding that "with this absurd decision UNESCO has lost what little legitimacy it still had."

 

He also said UNESCO was ignorant regarding the Bible, and accused the body of taking part in a "Theater of the Absurd."

 

Twenty-four countries voted in favor of the resolution Thursday afternoon, six against and 26 abstained, though ambassador Carmel Shama-Hacohen praised the diplomatic effort that had changed several no votes in a similar resolution in April into abstentions this time around.

 

it was "a significant accomplishment," that countries like France, Sweden, Argentina and India, which had earlier supported the declaration, now abstained, he told Army Radio.

 

"It's not pleasant, "he said, "but I'm pleased by the decision, relatively, because it was clear the decision would pass but we didn't know which countries would support it. We had the goal of gaining back French support and our friends in Europe," he said.

 

(Voting in favor were: Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Vietnam. Voting against were: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States. Abstaining were: Albania, Argentina, Cameroon, El Salvador, France, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Haiti, India, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and Nevis, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Ukraine. Absent were: Serbia and Turkmenistan.)

 

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he was "outraged" over the decision "which denies thousands of years of Jewish connection to Jerusalem's Western Wall."

 

"Would UNESCO vote to deny the Christian connection to the Vatican? Or the Muslim connection to Mecca," he said in a statement.

 

Opposition chief Isaac Herzog accused UNESCO of betraying their mission. "Whoever wants to rewrite history, to distort fact, and to completely invent the fantasy that the Western Wall and Temple Mount have no connection to the Jewish people, is telling a terrible lie that only serves to increase hatred."

 

Fellow Labor Party lawmaker Eitan Cabel called it "anti-Zionist, shameful and embarrassing."

 

"You can try and throw the innumerable testimonies (of a Jewish connection) into the trash, the evidence, the prayers and the archaeological discoveries. You can try and throw into the sea the millions of Jews who have touched this place with their hands and hearts," he wrote on his Facebook page. "It won't help you."

 

MK Merav Michaeli, also from the dovish party, said the resolution was the result of Netanyahu refusing to appoint a foreign minister and holding the position for himself for political capital.

 

The left-wing Emek Shaveh organization, which says it seeks for archaeology to be decoupled from politics, said the resolution would only make a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more difficult.

 

"Now that an international, professional entity like UNESCO has disregarded the deep relationship of the Jewish people to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, they've only made it easier for the Israeli right to convince the Israeli public that Jerusalem is in danger," the group said in a statement.

 

Indeed, lawmakers from the right-wing Jewish Home party called on Netanyahu to use this opportunity to increase Jewish activity on the flash-point holy site.

 

"Especially now, it's on us as a government to act in defiance of these decisions and to strengthen the Temple Mount and the Jewish presence on the site holiest to the Jewish people - the Temple Mount," said Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel.

 

Rivlin, speaking at an event before the vote, said UNESCO was making a mockery of itself with the vote.

 

"No forum or body in the world can come and deny the connection between the Jewish people, the Land of Israel and Jerusalem - and any such body that does so simply embarrasses itself," Rivlin said at an event in his Jerusalem residence. "We can understand criticism, but you cannot change history".

 

In the US, Congressman Ted Duetch called the motion "dangerous."