(Jerusalem Post) Alan Baker - On April 11, 2016, the Executive Board of UNESCO - an international body ostensibly dedicated to education, science and culture - adopted a decision, proposed by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman and Sudan, entitled "Occupied Palestine." The decision condemns all Israeli presence and activities in Jerusalem, Hebron and the Tomb of Rachel. In so doing it pointedly and deliberately denies, ignores, and seeks to delete from history any historic, cultural and religious link between the Jewish People, the Jewish religion and Jerusalem, including specifically its holy religious site of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, as well as with the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem. The decision refers to these Jewish holy sites solely in a context of "safeguarding the cultural heritage of Palestine," to the complete exclusion of the cultural and historic heritage and rights of the Jewish People. It ignores and denies the age-old indigenous Jewish historic linkage of the Temple Mount area to Judaism, Jewish history and religion, and ignores the fact that this was indeed the site of the Jewish Temples, and as such the cradle of all Jewish existence and history. Out of the 58 states members of the UNESCO Executive Board, France, Spain, Sweden, Russia and Slovenia - all ostensibly "friends" of Israel - supported this obnoxious and shameful decision, while only six states voted against - Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, the UK and the U.S. The 1945 Constitution of UNESCO sought to establish a body to combat ignorance, prejudice, suspicion, inequality and mistrust between peoples, and to advance dignity, equality, mutual respect and the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind. This blatant abuse of a universal international body for the sole purpose of denying the very history, culture and integrity of the Jewish People and religion should be of the utmost concern to the international community as a whole, as well as to the states members of UNESCO that supported the resolution. The writer served as the legal counsel to Israel's foreign ministry and Israel's ambassador to Canada. He was involved in all the peace process negotiations.
2016-04-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive