Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Palestine Photo:Lewis Larsson
A huge story. UNESCO has granted world heritage status to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. So Palestine continues to push for recognition in international bodies. Al Akhbar:
The UN cultural body UNESCO ignored Israeli objections on Friday to grant world heritage status to the birthplace of Jesus Christ in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.
UNESCO’s 13-6 secret vote to add the Church of the Nativity and its pilgrimage route to the prestigious list was received with a round of rousing applause and a celebratory fist pump by the beaming head of the Palestinian delegation.
AP:
The Palestinians had pressed to have the church and pilgrimage route inscribed as an emergency candidate at the meeting of the World Heritage 21-nation committee in St. Petersburg, Russia….
The United States and Israel opposed.
Take a letter. “Dear Christian Zionists…”
Updated. From the Associated Press:
The US ambassador to UNESCO, David Killion, said the United States is “profoundly disappointed” by the World Heritage committee’s decision to place the Church of Nativity on the World Heritage list. “This body should not be politicized,” he said.
”The site clearly has tremendous religious and historical significance,” Killion’s statement said. “However, the emergency procedure used in this instance is reserved only for extreme cases.”
(Thanks to Annie Robbins)
this just happened. an hr ago or something. i’m so excited!
Bethlehem is Palestine’s first World Heritage site. YEAH!!!
Yes annie!! wonderful news.
OT : I have been Googling your Artwork. Amazing. It is BEAUTIFUL!! So refined , elegant . Just like the lovely soul I read every day on MW.
Incredibly, it seems that the Haram as Sharif is not a heritage site—the dome of the rock, the al-Aqsa mosque and the compound. Nor is anything else in Jerusalem. Surely the entire old city should be, and the Mt of Olives.
Here is the world list. Six sites in Israel are listed, incl Masada, which is actually in the WB. The old city of Akko rates—but not Jerusalem. Israel would not want anything that smacks of the 1947 UN corpus separatum plan, international control of the city.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/
I am happy to hear this as it was on Yahoo News front page a few days ago and out came the usual racist paid up agent trolls with their horrible agenda of trying to demean Palestine and Muslims in the comments section. A victory against the hasbarats!
Too bad Battir can’t be protected, too. I visited that village in 2004 and again in 2007. So beautiful. The NYT picture doesn’t do it justice:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/world/middleeast/palestinian-village-tries-to-protect-landmark.html