Palestinian authorities have presented this Saturday before the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) a formal proposal aimed at safeguarding the archaeological sites located in the West Bank that are currently under Israeli control.
The permanent delegate of Palestine to UNESCO, Adel Attieh, explained in an interview granted to the Palestine Voice channel that the initiative seeks for the United Nations to take measures against the "violations" attributed to the Israeli Army against Palestinian cultural heritage. The main focus is on the Ibrahimi Mosque, in Hebron, in the south of the West Bank, recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 2017.
Attieh stressed that International Law "obliges" Benjamin Netanyahu's Executive not to carry out actions that modify the structures or the environment of the enclave, despite the Israeli offensive in the area and the ceasefire. Similarly, he accused Israel of trying to "alter" history by claiming historically Palestinian sites as its own.
A report by the Palestine Liberation Organization maintains that the Israeli Army "uses" its control over these archaeological enclaves as a "means of expansion for its illegal settlements" in the West Bank.
For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism has indicated that there are more than 7,000 archaeological sites in the West Bank and that around 60% of them are currently under Israeli administration.