UNESCO adopts anti-Israel resolution on al-Aqsa Mosque
- by Paula Vaughn
- in Culture
- — Oct 22, 2016
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Thursday voted in favor of a resolution condemning Israeli interference in the affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque, which it recognized as a exclusively Muslim holy site.
The resolution is not expected to have concrete impact on Jerusalem itself, but it aggravated diplomatic tensions around the city and within UNESCO, which is also facing a dispute between Japan and China that threatens funding.
The resolution, titled "Occupied Palestine", lays out rules about the preservation of holy sites in Jerusalem, and uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims. Ben Carson has slammed the United Nations and UNESCO for passing a resolution last week that denies the Christian and Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem.
UN CULTURAL agency Unesco yesterday approved a resolution entitled Occupied Palestine.
UNESCO member states voted on the resolution last week, with 24 voting in favor, six voting against and 26 abstaining.
The absurdity of the resolution, however, may end up giving Israel a rare upper hand at the United Nations, with even the director-general of UNESCO, its cultural agency, expressing her disgust.
But Israel's UNESCO ambassador, Carmel Shama Hacohen, accused the Palestinians of playing "games".
Slomianski, 52, the grandson of Ernesto Roemer, a Viennese conductor who escaped from the Nazis, walked out of the hall on Friday because he couldn't bring himself to obey his government's instructions to support the blatantly anti-Semitic, Arab-drafted resolution denying Jewish ties to Jerusalem's Temple Mount and the Western Wall, UN Watch reported Monday.
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UNESCO thus calls on Israel to respect the Status Quo, agreed between the Israeli state and Jordan after the 1967 war.
"And the Palestinians and Arab countries want to rewrite the history of Jerusalem".
Mexico has withdrawn its request to trigger a special clause in UNESCO which would cause a revote on the resolution which passed last week and said there was no Jewish connection to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported today.
A contentious resolution approved on October 13 by the UNESCO executive board and ratified on Tuesday addresses the issue of Haram Al-Sharif, known to Jews as Temple Mount, from which the Muslim prophet Mohamed is said to have ascended to heaven.
The atmosphere before the vote on Tuesday was soured further by threats received by telephone and on social media last week following a vote on the draft resolution, a UNESCO official told AFP.
Hamas described Ban's statement as a "violation of his duties".
"Around 206 settlers backed by Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa compound through Al-Mugharbeh gate since morning", Sheikh Omar al-Qiswani, the director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Anadolu Agency.
