Posted on 06/30/2012 12:43:13 AM PDT by Olog-hai
The Palestinians on Friday persuaded the U.N. cultural agency to list the Church of the Nativitythe place where Christians believe Jesus was bornas an endangered World Heritage site despite misgivings by churches in charge of the basilica.
The Palestinians hailed the nod by UNESCO as a step forward in their quest for global recognition of an independent Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967.
The centuries-old basilica is located in a part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank where the Palestinians have self-rule. UNESCO's decision was seen by them as validation of their rights to the territory.
"We are ecstatic," Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi said of Friday's 13-6 by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Palestinians had argued that the shrine faces imminent danger, both because of overdue repairs and Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank.
Israel and the U.S. strongly opposed the emergency bid, arguing that the church is not under threat, a position backed by a U.N. experts committee.
Israeli officials have said they don't object to the church being listed, but reject the "endangered" label which implies culpability of Israel, which in practice remains the ultimate sovereign in the West Bank.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
One day I hope to understand the true tethers to Christianity in the fiasco.
The palies are muslim, muslim destroys all things christian/jew.
|
|
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
![]() |
|
"Heads which Belong on Poles" ping. Thanks Olog-hai. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
|
|
wikipedia is calling palestine a state now on their cover story about this. and yes I intentionally used lowercase.
IOW, if they don’t get enough to repair it that’ll be an excuse to bulldoze it down?
No surprise there. Thanks mmog’.
By listing it as an endangered or historic site the Christian use of the building will be minimized and eventually proscribed. Disrepair is cited as a reason for the listing but such listing pretty much freezes the state of the building. No repairs or alterations will be permitted without extremely lengthy bureaucratic procedures which will have large input from the Moslems. Moslems will eventually or quickly be put in charge of the site because it is in “their country.”
. . . and then UNESCO will suddenly declare it a “mosque” as with the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.