Unesco Adds Nativity Church in Bethlehem to Heritage ListThe AFP has also covered the story: UNESCO urgently lists Church of Nativity as world heritage. Also Reuters: Palestinians win endangered world heritage status for Bethlehem church.
By ISABEL KERSHNER (NYT)
Published: June 29, 2012
JERUSALEM — The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, along with the Pilgrimage Route, was added on Friday to Unesco’s World Heritage List, a move that was celebrated by Palestinians who hailed it as a significant political and diplomatic achievement as much as a cultural one.
Hanan Ashrawi, who leads the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Department of Culture and Information, called the 13-to-6 vote of the World Heritage Committee meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, “a welcome recognition by the international community of our historical and cultural rights in this land.”
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“This is proof that Unesco is motivated by political considerations and not cultural ones,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement after the vote. “Instead of taking steps to advance peace,” it added, “the Palestinians are acting unilaterally in ways that only distance it.”
“The world should remember that the Church of the Nativity, which is sacred to Christians, was desecrated in the past by Palestinian terrorists,” the statement said, a reference to Palestinian gunmen occupying the church in 2002 along with clerics and civilians who had taken refuge there as Israeli tanks and troops pushed into Bethlehem. The Israeli military action was part of a broader offensive after months of Palestinian suicide bombings inside Israel. The church remained under siege for 39 days.
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There have been lots of responses. Here are a few:
U.S. Needs Wiggle Room to Escape Unesco Trap (Bloomberg). Excerpt:
The episode offers a glimpse of the new Unesco, where the U.S. has diminished clout after having announced its intention to stop funding the organization following Palestine’s admission as a member last October. The U.S. purpose presumably was to punish Unesco. Instead, other countries -- notably China and Qatar -- have stepped in to fill the 22 percent hole in Unesco’s $325 million annual budget.Palestine attempts land grab at World Heritage Committee (Jerusalem Post). Excerpt:
And if the U.S. goes two years without paying dues, it will be ousted from Unesco. Bad idea. Better that the U.S. resume its funding and stay in the organization.
Palestine has also filed a so-called “Tentative List” of a dozen other sites, including Ancient Jericho, Mount Gerizim, the Old City of Nablus (Shchem) and its environs, Old City of Hebron and its environs and Sebastia. The last is within the 1949 Green Line and the Scrolls pertain, we thought irrefutably; to the Jewish people.Nuncio cautious about church's designation as World Heritage site (Georgia Bulletin).
Palestinian supercessionism has now moved beyond Jewish sites to those of Christianity, Samaritans and first-century Essenes.
UNESCO declares Bethlehem basilica a World Heritage site (Catholic World News). Excerpt:
Church officials in Israel welcomed the UNESCO decision, because it could provide protection for the Nativity basilica, which has been in deteriorating condition because the Christian custodians cannot agree on needed maintenance work. The administration of many shrines in the Holy Land is divided between Catholic and Orthodox custodians, under the terms of an agreement that dates back to the Ottoman Empire. Frequent clashes over territory within the shrines has often prevented cooperation on repairs. Because of the UNESCO decision, Palestinian officials will be able to raise funds for overdue maintenance work at the Nativity basilica.In 2011 I noted (here and here and links) when the PA was admitted as a full member of UNESCO and talk began about adding the Church of the Nativity etc. as World Heritage Sites under the auspices of the former. Some relevant background on UNESCO and the politics of the region is here and links.