Hebron made Unesco world heritage site

The UN’s world heritage body Unesco has designated Hebron’s  Old City and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the occupied West Bank as a Palestinian world heritage site, despite protests from Israel.

The Tomb of the Patriarchs – also known as the Ibrahimi Mosque – is revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians alike as the burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is the second holiest site in Judaism and the fourth in Islam.

The ruling also put them on a list of sites considered “in danger”, which allows for the allocation of immediate World Heritage Fund assistance and is designed to alert the international community to endangered sites. Unesco will also be obliged to annually evaluate the situation in the old city, where a few hundred Jewish settlers live under heavy Israeli military protection in the midst of over 200,000 Palestinians.

Palestinian diplomats had urged Unesco to fast track Hebron’s inscription onto the List of World Heritage in Danger, accusing Israel of an “alarming” number of violations that included vandalism, property damage, and other attacks that had an impact on its authenticity and integrity.

Inscription would place the site under international standards of conservation, and would oblige Unesco to review its situation every year, they said.

The Unseco vote took place at the Unesco annual summit, in Krakow, Poland, on Friday and was held as a secret ballot following a request from Israel, which believed that would mean countries were more likely to support its case.

Israel had rejected the Palestinian allegations and complained that the resolution, which refers to Hebron's "Islamic history", denied a Jewish connection to the city.

In heated scenes, Israel’s Unesco ambassador, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, reportedly stormed to the desk of the session’s chairman after the vote, and accused the committee of not conducting a truly secret ballot.

In the immediate aftermath of the vote, Shama HaCohen took out his mobile phone and scornfully informed the committee: “It’s my plumber in my apartment in Paris. There is a huge problem in my toilet and it is much more important than the decision you just adopted.”

The United States had argued that the Tomb of the Patriarchs was "under no immediate threat" and that adding it to the list of sites in danger "risked undermining the seriousness such an assessment by Unesco should have".

It had also warned that the resolution might undermine efforts by US President Donald Trump to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads Israel's Unesco committee, denounced the vote and accused the UN agency of being a "political tool".

"The Jewish connection to Hebron goes back thousands of years. Hebron, the birthplace of King David's kingdom, and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, the first Jewish purchase in Israel and resting place of our forefathers - are our people's oldest heritage sites," he said.

"Unesco's resolution must be rejected, and our efforts to strengthen the city of our fathers increased.”

Hebron was divided between Israeli and Palestinian control under a 1997 agreement which saw Israel withdraw from 80% of the city. The Old City and the tomb are located in the Israeli sector.

Earlier this week, Israel protested against another resolution passed by the World Heritage Committee that referred to it as the "occupying power" in Jerusalem's Old City, which includes sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

The resolution kept the Old City and its historic walls on the List of World Heritage in Danger, and called on the Israeli authorities to "cease the persistent excavations, tunnelling, works and projects" that it stated were "illegal under international law".