UNESCO endorses Jordan-Arab proposal over Jerusalem's Bab Al Magharbeh

AMMAN (JT) - UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee on Monday voted in favor of a Jordanian and Arab decision on the city of Jerusalem and Bab Al Magharbeh.

The decision was made during the 35th session of UNESCO’s executive board, which was held yesterday in Paris with the participation of a Jordanian delegation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

In yesterday’s decision, UNESCO voiced its “deep” concern over Israel’s continued excavations at the old Jerusalem’s gate and the area surrounding it, in addition to Israel’s failure to provide the World Heritage Center with information on these excavation works, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mohammad Kayed.

Under the decision, UNESCO also called on Israel to stop its works in the Old City immediately and requested that the World Heritage Center detail in its periodic reports to the World Heritage Committee all obstacles placed by the Israeli side and its justifications for not providing the center with the required information in this regard.

Bab Al Magharbeh, or Moroccans Gate, was listed, as part of East Jerusalem, upon a Jordanian request on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1981 and the list of endangered world heritage sites in 1982.

Kayed said the unified stance by participating Arab states in yesterday’s session facilitated adopting the Arab proposal, noting that the Jordanian delegates have cooperated with their Arab counterparts tand other peers to reach an accepted formula for the decision, according to Petra.

He voiced regrets over the failure of reaching an agreement with some concerned parties due to the Israeli “intransigence” on some of the articles included in the decision regarding its unilateral measures on the land, which led the committee to adopt the resolution by voting instead of making the decision unanimously.

The spokesperson noted that the Arab decision has succeeded in extending UNESCO’s monitoring mechanisms to include all Jerusalem after it was limited to Bab Al Magharbeh, which leads to Al Aqsa Mosque.

Kayed said the decision was worded with a “a new level of rhetoric” in tackling the Bab Al Magharbeh issue in a way that addresses some of the major Jordanian concerns, noting that UNESCO also expressed its regrets for Israel’s plans to excavate the gate and build a bridge next to it before the committee’s meetings.

In May, the Israeli occupation’s municipal authorities in Jerusalem started with advanced steps to demolish the upper bridge that connects Bab Al Magharba, the gate that leads to Al Aqsa Mosque.

Jordan has rejected the move and came up with alternative plans that entail the renovation of the old bridge. UNESCO accepted the Jordanian blueprints.

Furthermore, the agency renewed yesterday its support for Jordan’s plan to renovate the bridge and thanked the Kingdom for its cooperation to safeguard the site as part of its role in safeguarding Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, where the Kingdom has jurisdiction.

Kayed said the Jordanian decision entails expanding its authority to monitor the gate and demands Israel to stop its archaeological excavations in Bab Al Magharbeh bridge, Petra reported.

28 June 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=38927.