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Palestinian gov't lauds UNESCO decision to adopt Islamic name of holy site

Xinhua, April 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Palestinian government on Tuesday lauded a recent decision by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to adopt the Islamic name of Al-Aqsa Mosque rather than the Jewish Temple Mount to refer to that holy site.

The UNESCO decision is a reaction to the Israeli campaign of "counterfeiting" that targets the Arab culture and the holiest of Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem, Palestinian government spokesman Yousef Al-Mahmoud said.

Al-Mahmoud called on the UNESCO to take an immediate action to stop Israeli violations in the city of Jerusalem and implement its resolution in that regard.

The UNESCO's executive board passed a resolution dropping a controversial clause from the original draft that laid claim to Jerusalem's Western Wall, deemed as the holiest Jewish site for prayer, as an Islamic site, an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The resolution called for retaining the status quo that was before 2000, when the site was fully under the control of Jordanian Awqaf Ministry.

Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, referred to by Jews as Temple Mount and by Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, is located in the Old City of East Jerusalem and Muslims believe it is where Prophet Muhammed ascended to the heaven and back to Mecca in a night journey.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the resolutuion saying "the UNESCO ignored the unique historic connection of Judaism to the Temple Mount."

The Palestinians won full accession to the UNESCO in October 2011, in a step seen back then as a major step to win world recognition of a Palestinian statehood. Endit