Israel’s hasty U-turn

Israel’s hasty U-turn over cutting UNESCO ties

* Foreign ministry says ‘translation error’ behind deputy FM’s announcement of severing ties with organisation
======================================================

JERUSALEM: Israel on Thursday went back on a decision to cut links with UNESCO over a resolution on Jewish holy sites, with the foreign ministry blaming a ‘translation error’ and saying ties were only partially suspended.
But foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor on Thursday said the statement ascribed to Ayalon was incorrect, blaming a ‘hasty translation error’ by the deputy minister’s office. “We have not suspended cooperation with the whole organisation,” he told AFP. “We are involved in a large number of projects with them and we want to continue, but we won’t work with them on any political resolutions regarding the Middle East.”

Israel’s deputy foreign minister had on Wednesday announced that the Jewish state would sever ties with the cultural organisation over its description of Rachel’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, as a mosque. “Israel has suspended cooperation with UNESCO,” Danny Ayalon told parliament, a statement from his office said late on Wednesday.

Last month, UNESCO, the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, adopted a series of resolutions concerning holy sites located in the occupied West Bank, including one which referred to the Bethlehem tomb as “Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb.” The move infuriated Israel, and was immediately denounced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “absurd.”

In his statement, Ayalon blamed the Palestinians for being behind the resolutions, and said ties with UNESCO would remain frozen until it repealed the decision to refer to the tomb as a mosque. “The UNESCO decision was made by the automatic Arab majority and was another attempt to delegitimise Israel instigated by the Palestinian Authority,” his statement said. 

afp (daily times)

=================================================