by Compiled from Wire Services
Oct 15, 2016 12:00 am
Israel has suspended cooperation with the U.N.'s cultural agency UNESCO, a day after it has adopted a motion that marginalizes Jewish ties to the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem. "I sincerely hope UNESCO will stop this fiasco and stop denying history," Israeli Minister Naftali Bennett said Friday.
The draft resolution criticized Israel for policies it says restricts Muslim access to the holy sites. The resolution refers to "Occupied Palestine" and aims to "safeguard the Palestinian cultural heritage and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem," according to a text seen by AFP. The resolutions put forward by several Arab countries including Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria, were adopted at committee stage and are to be submitted Tuesday to UNESCO's executive body. Participants said 24 votes were cast in favor and six against with 26 abstentions and two absentees.
"To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China and that Egypt has no connection to the Pyramids," said Israeli PM Netanyahu. "With this absurd decision, UNESCO lost the little legitimization it had left. But I believe that the historical truth is stronger and the truth will win."
For Muslims, al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
In September 2000, a visit to al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon sparked what later became known as the "Second Intifada," a popular uprising against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land in which thousands of Palestinians were killed. Israel occupied East Jerusalem in which al-Aqsa is located during the 1967 Middle East War. It formally annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as its capital, a move never recognized by the international community.
Dozens of Jewish settlers and Israeli forces on Tuesday forced their way into Jerusalem's flashpoint al-Aqsa Mosque compound following calls by Jewish settler leaders to converge on the site to mark the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday, according to a Palestinian official. "At least 160 Jewish settlers backed by Israeli police have entered the al-Aqsa Mosque through al-Mugharbeh gate since the morning," Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, head of the Jordan-run Organization for Muslim Endowments and Al-Aqsa Affairs, told Anadolu Agency. "Settlers toured the complex, passing by the al-Qibali and Dome of the Rock mosques, where they performed Talmudic rituals before leaving through the al-Rahemah and al-Silsila gates," he said. Al-Khatib also noted that the Israeli authorities had restricted the entry of Muslim worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, while allowing the entry of dozens of Jewish settlers.
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