A UNESCO resolution stated that Al Aqsa and other holy sites in Hebron and Bethlehem are an “integral part of Palestine.” infuriating Israeli authorities. UNESCO also condemned Israel, “the occupying power,” for planting fake graves in Muslim cemeteries.
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wo tourist destinations, the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) in the heart of the old city of Hebron and the Bilal bin Rabah mosque (Rachel’s Tomb) in Bethlehem, are named in the paper as “Palestinian sites.” The draft decision by the UNESCO executive board on occupied Palestine wasreleased April 11.
UNESCO “reaffirms that the two concerned sites located in… Hebron and in Bethlehem are an integral part of Palestine” and “disapproves the ongoing Israeli illegal excavations, works, construction of private roads for settlers and a separation wall inside the Old City of… Hebron, that harmfully affect the integrity of the site,” the statement says.
UNESCO also slammed the Israeli attacks on Muslims on the Al Haram Al-Sharif, and its holy site, Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The organization “strongly condemns the Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to their Holy Site Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif, and requests Israel, the Occupying Power, to respect the historic Status Quo and to immediately stop these measures,” the statement says.
UNESCO called on Israel to stop “banning Muslims from burying their dead in some spaces and by planting Jewish fake graves in other spaces of the Muslim cemeteries.”
The group also criticized “the continuous Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip,” which causes an “intolerable number of casualties among Palestinian children,” as well as “the attacks on schools and other educational and cultural facilities and the denial of access to education.”
source: RT
