UNESCO’s Jerusalem resolution has angered Israel

UNESCO’s executive board on Tuesday passed a resolution that Israel said denies the deep historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem — and that has angered Israel’s government and Jewish community around the world.

The resolution might not have any tangible impact on Jerusalem itself, but it had aggravated diplomatic tensions around the city and within UNESO.

Israel labeled this resolution as an ‘anti-Israel bias’ inherent in UN, where Israel and allies had been outnumbered by Arab states

The resolution, titled “Occupied Palestine,” laid 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. The site includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray.

The board adopted the resolution unanimously on Tuesday at the Paris headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. A draft form of the resolution had already been approved by a commission last week.

Israel suspended its cooperation with UNESCO over the resolution last week, though it was not clear what areas the suspension would affect. Israel had already cut off its funding to UNESCO when Palestinian membership was approved, along with the United States, which used to provide 22 percent of the agency’s budget.

“We won’t negotiate and we won’t take part in these ugly games,” the Israeli ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen said, and added, “There is no place for these games in UNESCO. This noble organization was established to preserve history, not to rewrite it.”

Arab member states of UNESCO welcomed the resolution, and argued that this resolution is the first ever text of the agency which states that religious sites in Israel belonged are shared heritage of all Abrahamic religions, not just Judaism.