Israel suspends cooperation with UNESCO for 'labelling Jewish holy site as Muslim'
ISRAEL has suspended cooperation with UNESCO after it accused the agency of declaring a top Jewish holy site as Muslim.
The site is revered by the Jewish community and Muslims alike, and is known to Jewish people as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the al-Aqsa compound or Haram al-Sharif.
But a draft of the latest version of the resolution, posted on UNESCO's website and dated October 12, showed the site repeatedly described only by its Muslim names - something Israel claims amounts to a denial of its Jewish history.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Jerusalem at the time: "The theatre of the absurd at UNESCO continues and today the organisation adopted another delusional decision which says that the people of Israel have no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
"To declare that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the Pyramids," Netanyahu said.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: "This is an important message to Israel that it must end its occupation and recognise the Palestinian state and Jerusalem as its capital with its sacred Muslim and Christian sites."
The theatre of the absurd at UNESCO continues
The resolution was voted through on Thursday with 24 votes in favour, six against, and 26 abstentions with two countries absent, the diplomatic source and another source with knowledge of the vote said on Thursday.
France, which is trying to bring the Israeli and Palestinians leaders back to the negotiating table by year-end, was among countries voting in favour of the resolution on a previous occasion, a move that caused a diplomatic row with the Israeli government.
Earlier this year, President Francois Hollande said there had been an "unfortunate," amendment to the text on that occasion and that he would be "extremely vigilant" with this year's resolution.
Education minister Naftali Bennett informed UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Israel's decision on Friday.
He said: "Following the shameful decision by UNESCO members to deny history and ignore thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, I have notified the Israel National Commission for UNESCO to suspend all professional activities with the international organization."
Israel captured east Jerusalem, with sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war.