Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he has set forth plans to construct a Jewish heritage museum in the West Bank city of Hebron, in the face of last week's UNESCO vote declaring Hebron's Old City to be Palestinian territory and a world heritage site in urgent need of protection.
“Following this decision, I decided to cut $1 million from Israel’s membership fees at the UN and to transfer them to the establishment of a Jewish heritage museum in Kiryat Arba [a Jewish settlement on the outskirts of Hebron] and Hebron,” the Prime Minister announced at a weekly cabinet meeting.
“The money will also be used for other projects in the area of heritage related to Hebron,” he added.
Le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu à Jérusalem le 28 mai 2017
A secret ballot held in UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting in Poland on Friday, voted 12-3 in favor of the resolution, sparking outrage and backlash from Israel and the US.
Netanyahu slammed the vote as “another delusional decision” by the agency and the US’s ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley announced that the US would be reviewing its ties with the UN agency over the results of the vote, accusing it of being an "affront to history."
The United States stopped funding the UN agency in 2011 after it admitted the Palestinians as a member-state, but it remains a member of UNESCO's 58-member executive board.
Israel has already protested the inclusion of the Old City of Hebron, home to the imposing Tomb of the Patriarchs, the resting place of the Biblical figures Jacob, Isaac and Abraham and an important religious site to Muslims and Jews alike.
“The connection between the people of Israel and Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs is a bond of property and history,” Netanyahu said at the opening of the Sunday cabinet meeting, after reading relevant verses from the bible's Genesis.
It is the second time in recent weeks the peak scientific and cultural body of the United Nations has passed a resolution admonishing Israel and condemning the Jewish state's control over East Jerusalem, and in May it declared it an “occupying power in Jerusalem,” to Israel’s outrage.
Claiming that Hebron's Old City is endangered, the Palestinian Authority (PA) requested that the status of the flashpoint West Bank city be fast-tracked onto the 2017 list due to "alarming details about the Israeli violations in Al-Khalil/ Hebron, including the continuous acts of vandalism, property damage, and other attacks.”
The West Bank city of Hebron is home to the imposing Tomb of the Patriarchs and is the resting place of key biblical figures Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Netanyahu declared that “the whole world will see the truth,” by funding a site devoted to the archaeological and historical artifacts demonstrating Judaism’s ties to Hebron.
“In the face of UNESCO’s decision, Israel will present the world the historical ethos and the deep connection between the Jewish people’s thousands of years in Hebron.”
Approximately 180,000 Palestinians live in Hebron, along with an Israeli enclave in the Old City housing several hundred settlers.
The Palestinian submission to fast-track the recognition of Hebron claimed that Israeli actions over the last few months, including excavating underneath a mosque, installing cement barriers and preventing local restoration work violated the historic site and put it at risk.
Ahead of the vote last week, Israel refused to allow a team from UNESCO to visit Hebron with Israel’s Ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Sharma HaCohen saying that by refusing the team access for a field visit, Israel was taking a “principled and strategic” stand.
An amendment submitted by several Arab states condemning Israel for not permitting the visit was added to the motion.
