United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s [UNESCO] Executive Board adopted a resolution Oct. 17 called “Occupied Palestine,” referring to East Jerusalem’s historic sites as Al-Asqa and Al-Haram al-Sharif. UNESCO ignored the archeological history of what Jews call “Temple Mount,” the historic hilltop in East Jerusalem once housing the First and Second Temples. What the Palestinians couldn’t do on the battlefield or peace table, UNESCO did in closed session. Palestinians and other Arab states show no regret over the 1967 “Six Day War” where Palestinians, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq attacked Israel in a collective war of annihilation. When the war ended June 10, 1967, Israel had destroyed the militaries of all Arab combatants, seizing Egypt’s Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, Jordan’s West Bank and East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights.
Since the war ended, the U.N. has never recognized Israeli spoils of the Six Day War, working feverishly through various channels to have the land returned to its previous sovereign states. Not one square inch of sovereign territory was Palestinian land, despite numbers of Palestinians living in Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Before the 1967 War, Palestinians made no claim of Egypt, Jordan or Syria occupying Palestinian land. Only after Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon did Palestinians start talking about Israeli occupation. While Palestine Liberation Chairman Yasser Arafat pushed for the war for three years since forming the PLO in 1964, he coordinated closely with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. For the man who built the Aswan Dam, Nasser’s crushing defeat left him broken, dying in Cairo at age 52. UNESCO’s action tries to de-legitimize Israel.
Arafat talked of an independent Palestinian state, but, truth be told, never wanted a two-state solution. No matter how many peace efforts with generations of U.S. presidents, Arafat went to his grave Nov. 11, 2004 never realizing his real dream of destroying Israel. All the talk by Arafat and now his replacement 81-year-old Mahmoud Abbas of a two-state solution, Abbas really backs Hamas’s goal of destroying Israel. All the tunnels and preparation for war continue unabated in the Gaza Strip, despite the latest destructive war June 8, 2014 laying Gaza to waste. Gaza’s Hamas rules, led by 53-year-old Ismail Haniyeh, continue to tell its Gaza citizens that Israel’s destruction is inevitable, spending its donated cash on more tunnels and rockets. Before UNESCO’s latest resolution, Abbas tried to get the U.N. to recognize an independent Palestinian state without negotiating with Israel.
Calling the resolution “Occupied Palestine” speaks volumes about its true intent to de-legitimize Israel’s rule over East Jerusalem. UNESCO knows that Temple Mount is Jews’ holiest site, with the famous Western or Wailing Wall the last remaining part of first and second temples of Solomon. “We won’t negotiate and we won’t take part in these ugly games,” said Israeli UNESCO Amb. Carmel Shama-Hacohen. Shama-Hacohen was especially irked over UNESCO’s revisionist history. “There is no place for these games in UNESCO. This noble organization was established to preserve history, not rewrites it.” “The aim of the mission was not to say that Israel was an occupying power or not, the whole world knows it,” said Elias Sanbar, UNESCO’s Palestinian ambassador. Sanbar wants UNESCO to go beyond its authority and assign Palestinians control over Islamic holy sites.
UNESCO’s Secretary-General Irinia Bokova disagreed with the Executive Board’s decision to politicize the issue of East Jerusalem’s holy sites. Palestinians hoped the UNESCO resolution would state that holy sites belong to the three monotheistic religions, comprising Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Gaza’s Hamas leaders said it “considers this a victory to the Palestinian cause and a destruction of the Israeli narrative regarding Al-Aqsa.” Israel recognizes Al-Aqsa as Islam’s third holiest site but refuses to share custody with Palestinians or any other sovereign state. What Hamas and the PLO can’t win at the peace table or battlefield, they exploited UNESCO to make a political statement about Israeli occupation. Palestinians expect Israel to trade land-for-peace but the land wasn’t Palestinian land before the 1967 War. Palestinian sympathizers in UNESCO corrupted the agency’s mission.
If Palestinians want a different custodian to manage Al-Aqsa mosque or any other historic site on Temple Mount, they need to sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and negotiate a two-state solution. As long as Palestinians remain divided between Gaza and the West Bank, Israel can’t sit down at the table until Hamas renounces violence and stops its war of annihilation against Israel. Palestinians can’t use the UNESCO decision to claim sovereignty over Al-Aqsa or any other Islamic site in East Jerusalem. Under treaty with Jordan, Israel allows Jordan to oversee Al-Aqsa and other Islamic sites in East Jerusalem. Unlike Abbas, Jordan’s King Hussein has strong security ties with Israel, helping to keep Islamic terrorists from infiltrating Jordan. Whatever happened in 1967, Jordan knows that peace with Israel supersedes whatever happens with a Palestinian state.
