UNESCO

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a meeting with members of the PLO Central Committee in the West Bank city of Ramallah, January 14, 2018. (Flash90)

Abbas’ speech shows he is burning bridges with the U.S.

Abbas’ attack on Trump and top White House officials signals that he no longer wants the U.S. involved in peace negotiations. Gradual recognition of a Palestinian state is now his preferred course of action. By Elhanan Miller Those who survived Mahmoud Abbas’ tedious history during his speech to the PLO Central Committee on Monday, and avoided…

By +972 Magazine January 17, 2018

Palestinians walk by the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

There’s nothing anti-Semitic about UNESCO’s Hebron vote

Israel’s leaders are essentially trying to convince the world that anyone who recognizes Palestine is anti-Semitic. UNESCO’s resolution to recognize the Tomb of the Patriarchs/Ibrahimi Tomb and Hebron’s Old City as Palestinian World Heritage Sites brought on, as expected, knee-jerk cries of anti-Semitism by Israeli politicians. And it wasn’t just the right wingers. Even Labor’s…

By Orly Noy July 9, 2017

Palestinians walk by the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Hebron is the next Israeli-Palestinian fight at UNESCO

From a Palestinian point of view, Hebron’s sanctity to the Jewish people does not negate the Palestinians’ right to promote their political rights and sovereignty over the world heritage site. By Yonathan Mizrachi In recent years, every time UNESCO convenes to discuss world heritage sites, Israel-Palestine is in the limelight. Usually, tensions center around the…

By +972 Magazine June 29, 2017

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The Dome of Rock is seen in the background of the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City as thousands of Jewish worshippers participated in the Cohen Benediction priestly prayer for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, October 5, 2009. (Miriam Alster / FLASH90)

Israel spars with the world at UNESCO

The latest bout between Israel and UNESCO suggests that the world is warming up to Israel’s conflation of the Jewish people’s religious and historical connection to Jerusalem with its claim to exclusive sovereignty over the city. By Talya Ezrahi and Yonathan Mizrachi Israel’s success at UNESCO this week was a diplomatic coup. In a work of crafty…

By +972 Magazine May 5, 2017

The UN Security Council votes to pass Resolution 2334, condemning Israeli settlements, 14-0, December 23, 2016. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo)

The Left should stop bickering and support Obama’s abstention

Everyone knew that abstention from the Security Council’s anti-settlement resolution was one of the more realistic options on a very limited menu. So why is the Left now up in arms? U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power barely got the word “abstain” out of her mouth before the liberal left ripped into the…

By Dahlia Scheindlin December 24, 2016

Ultra-Orthodox Jews look out over the Western Wall and the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, December 17, 2015. (Esther Rubyan/Flash90)

UNESCO’s mistake on Jerusalem

The resolution was yet another shallow attack on identity elements, the same type I reject every time Israel does it to Palestinians. It was also a setback to the kind of UN action that could actually move the bar in a region that desperately needs it. UNESCO has made a startlingly bad move in voting…

By Dahlia Scheindlin October 15, 2016

Palestinian Muslim worshipers perform traditional Friday prayers in a street in Wadi Joz neighbourhood outside Jerusalem's Old City, as policemen block their way to Al Aqsa mosque, October 17, 2014. The Israeli government has restricted access to the al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third holiest shrine to men under 50. (Activestills.org)

Let’s talk about what UNESCO resolution does say instead of what it doesn’t

The absence of an affirmation of Judaism’s connection to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif is being exploited to distract from Israeli violations of the status quo, and restrictions on Muslim-Palestinian access to the holy site. By Tom Pessah Anti-Semitism, for Netanyahu and much of the Israeli and Jewish press, is clickbait. Mention it and you can all…

By +972 Magazine October 14, 2016

The remains of a historic mansion from the Palestinian village of Beit Jibrin, now part of Kibbutz Beit Guvrin. (photo: צולם על ידי שלומי שטרית)

WATCH: Omitting the Palestinian history of Israel’s heritage

In 2014 UNESCO declared Beit Guvrin and its Caves of Maresha, one of the most important places in the Kingdom of Judah during the time of the First Temple, World Heritage Site. UNESCO notes every era tied to the site including the Persian, Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine etc. However, the rich history of Palestinian life that…

By Social TV November 15, 2015

Palestinians march on the railway line connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem through the West Bank, during a protest against the plan to build the separation wall in the West Bank village of Battir, November 13, 2012. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israel’s top court gives temporary reprieve to Palestinian UNESCO site

In rare move, Israeli Nature and Parks authority supported the petition against the wall; the court’s decision largely hangs on Defense Ministry admitting the contested section of wall isn’t a priority. Israel will not build a section of the separation barrier through the UNESCO recognized village of Battir in the West Bank anytime soon. Israel’s…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man January 4, 2015

An Israeli settlement water tank stands near the Ibrahimi Mosque or Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Settlements as punishment prove Palestinian lives are bargaining chip

By using settlements as a punitive response to Palestinian political actions, Israel proves they come at the direct expense of Palestinian statehood, and that it holds all the power in this conflict. Here we go again. Palestinians do something Israel doesn’t approve of, and Israel retaliates by using its unchecked power and leverage to block…

By Mairav Zonszein June 6, 2014

Shalom, tower. A visit to Tel Aviv’s historic skyscraper

In the innocent year of 1909, a new Jewish neighborhood was established on the outskirts of Jaffa. A modest crossing of two streets, it was designed according to distinctly secular Jewish values. At its focal point, just north of the intersection stood not a synagogue but a high school. It was an elaborate, romantic structure. Its…

By Yuval Ben-Ami April 12, 2013

ALSO CAN BE THUMB

The Wall, 10 years on / part 12: Where do we go from here?

Ten years have passed since Israel started building the wall, probably the largest and most expensive construction project in its history, which does not seem to be going anywhere. For four months now I’ve been presenting its story, and now it is time to offer some breaking updates, look into the future, and conclude. The…

By Haggai Matar August 10, 2012

The Wall, 10 years on: part 9 / Dividing land – water, fauna, flora

UNESCO is set to discuss the dangers facing Jerusalem’s eco-systems, a new UNRWA report elaborates the harm caused to water sources and flora throughout the West Bank, and environmental NGOs warn of the impending extinction of several species – these are the wall’s effects on mother nature. Project photography: Oren Ziv / Activestills An event…

By Haggai Matar June 23, 2012