Israel claims West Bank holy sites

Ma'an
Israel has added two holy sites in the occupied West Bank to a list of national heritage sites, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday.

Within his "Plan to Rehabilitate and Strengthen Israel's National Heritage Infrastructures," the upgrade affects Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque, known to Israelis as the Cave of the Patriachs, and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem.

...the move to upgrade two located in the West Bank cities of Hebron and Bethlehem as Israeli heritage sites is unusual because neither are found in Israe...

Palestinian Authority officials immediately condemned the initiative.

"This announcement is an act of aggression against the cultural and religious rights of the Palestinian people," said Dr Hamdan Taha, director of the PA Tourism Ministry's antiquities department, in a telephone interview.

"Instead of making use of heritage to promote peace, it is being used as a means to promote war," Taha said, maintaining that the proposal's timing could not be discounted: "This is clearly intended to obstruct the peace process."

Also noting that the shrines in question are holy to many faiths, Taha insisted that Netanyahu's plan to designate them as Israeli heritage sites "reflects an artificial history that solely serves Israel's settlement policy."

He concluded that "a religious shrine respected by Muslims, Christians, and Jews should be respected as a cultural and religious symbol, not as an opportunity to obstruct international efforts to reach a peace agreement."

....Fatah declared a general strike for Monday, while Hebron's mayor, Kahled Al-Eseili, called on UNESCO to move quickly "to protect the Ibrahimi Mosque, prevent its desecration, and act against alterations to its features."

International law, including the Hague conventions, oblige the occupier not to change the historical heritage of the occupied, he said......  Full story