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Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-759601
UNESCO's Collusion with Palestinian Efforts to Erase Jericho's Jewish Heritage
(Jerusalem Post) Editorial - The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and declared ancient Jericho to be a World Heritage Site. Jericho appears numerous times throughout the Bible and was notably the site of the Israelites' first battle in their conquest of the Land of Israel, as documented in the Book of Joshua. The city was an important center during the Hasmonean and Herodian periods and the remains of several spectacular synagogues have been uncovered in and around the city. Perhaps the most outrageous part of UNESCO's designation is its collusion with Palestinian efforts to not only erase the city's Jewish heritage but claim it as their own, by ascribing it to the "State of Palestine." Three more West Bank locations have been designated as World Heritage Sites and ascribed to the "State of Palestine" since 2012: ancient Hebron (home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, one of the most important sites in Judaism), Battir (known in ancient times as Betar, the site of an ancient Jewish village and a consequential battle during the Bar-Kochba Revolt), and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. At present, there is no State of Palestine: the Palestinian Authority does not meet the basic requirements of statehood, which is why the U.S. and Israel withdrew from UNESCO after the so-called "state" was admitted to the body in 2011. What is at issue here is the deliberate erasure of the Jewish people's connections to the cradle of Jewish civilization. For a UN body to go along with the Palestinians' distortions of history and their erasure of the Jewish people's connections to its land brings shame on the UN.