ISRAEL'S HERITAGE PLAN (background
here) is generating some controversy. First, this:
Critics slam heritage plan for omitting non-Jewish sites
By Nir Hasson
The national heritage proposal that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented to the cabinet this week is attracting criticism for including only sites that are part of the Jewish and Zionist narrative.
The NIS 400 million heritage project, which is geared toward supporting the preservation of Jewish artifacts and teaching schoolchildren about Jewish and Zionist history, includes 37 archaeological sites - all of which the program ties in to Jewish tradition.
[...]
But the criticisms have become much more specific after this:
Israel adds West Bank shrines to heritage list
(BBC)
Israel's prime minister has announced a controversial plan to add two major religious sites in the West Bank to the country's national heritage list.
Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem would now be included in the $107m restoration plan.
Israeli media said the two sites had been included on the list only after pressure from nationalist ministers.
The Palestinian Authority warned the decision would "wreck" peace efforts.
[...]
Responses include a riot:
Riots over Israeli claim to West Bank heritage sites
Israeli soldiers have clashed with protesters in the West Bank town of Hebron after two disputed shrines were listed as Israeli heritage sites.
Palestinian protesters threw bottles and stones at soldiers who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.
The protesters say the move to list the shrines as heritage sites would restrict Muslims access to them, but this has been denied.
The Hebron shrine is an important site for both Jews and Muslims.
[...]
This blistering editorial in
Al Ahram:
Fabricating history
Israel's attempts to establish historical grounds for its existence include stealing, destroying and substituting Islamic heritage, reports Khaled Amayreh in Hebron
Tension in the occupied Palestinian territories rose significantly this week following a decision by the rightwing Israeli government to add two ancient mosques in the West Bank to a list of alleged Jewish heritage sites.
The two mosques are the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque, which Israelis call Rachel's Tomb, near Bethlehem, and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, named after the patriarch Ibrahim (Abraham), widely considered the common forefather of both the ancient Hebrews and northern Arabs.
The Hebron mosque, site of a massacre of Arab worshipers by a Jewish terrorist in 1994, is widely considered the fourth most important Islamic shrine, coming directly after the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, the Prophet's Mosque in Medina (both in Saudi Arabia), and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Israeli officials didn't explain the decision by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to add the two Islamic sites to a list of some 130 so-called Jewish heritage sites. Netanyahu said the sites would be renovated "in order to reconnect Israelis to their history".
[...]
And the AP is also
reporting criticism from the US Government.