PA daily: "Netanyahu intends to participate in excavations under the Al-Aqsa Mosque" in attempt to prove "Jews' alleged connection to it"
Headline: “Arrogance – Netanyahu intends to participate in excavations under the Al-Aqsa Mosque”
“The occupation’s [Israel’s] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised in press statements to personally participate in the removal of soil from under the Al-Aqsa Mosque this week (sic., Netanyahu’s actual statement appears in a note below), and called on the Jewish population to join him…
PLO Executive Committee member [and Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] Ahmed Majdalani emphasized that Netanyahu’s statements are full of arrogance and haughtiness. Majdalani said in statements to [the official PA radio station] The Voice of Palestine that these statements are meant to thwart the latest UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) resolutions regarding the Jerusalem [Noble] Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) and [the] Old [City of] Jerusalem through lies and claims about the Jews' alleged connection to it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Oct. 19, 2016, in the wake of UNESCO’s resolution erasing the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, that his government would help fund the Temple Mount Sifting Project of the Ir David Foundation. The project works to recover archaeological artifacts from approximately 400 truckloads of soil removed from the Temple Mount by the Waqf without supervision in 1999, as part of its illegal construction of the El-Marwani Mosque in the Solomon’s Stables area of the Temple Mount.
UNESCO passed a resolution in Paris on “Occupied Palestine” on Oct. 13, 2016, with 24 countries voting in favor, 6 against, and 24 abstentions. The resolution was later approved by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee on Oct. 26, 2016, in a secret ballot in which ten countries voted in favor of the resolution, two opposed, eight abstained, and one country, Jamaica, was absent.
In the resolution UNESCO refers to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, only as “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif,” and presents it only as a “Muslim holy site.” The resolution condemns “escalating Israeli aggressions” and Israeli “violations” at the site, and calls on Israel “to respect the integrity, authenticity and cultural heritage of Al-Aqṣa Mosque/Al-Ḥaram Al-Sharif… as a Muslim holy site of worship.” The resolution likewise refers to the Western Wall Plaza as the “Al-Buraq Plaza ‘Western Wall Plaza,’” adding quotation marks to the Jewish name for the site.
The resolution was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan.
The countries voting for the resolution were: Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Vietnam.
Those voting against it were: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, the UK, and the US.
Mexico later noted for the record that its position on the issue is one of abstention, although the vote count was unaffected.
“The occupation’s [Israel’s] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised in press statements to personally participate in the removal of soil from under the Al-Aqsa Mosque this week (sic., Netanyahu’s actual statement appears in a note below), and called on the Jewish population to join him…
PLO Executive Committee member [and Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] Ahmed Majdalani emphasized that Netanyahu’s statements are full of arrogance and haughtiness. Majdalani said in statements to [the official PA radio station] The Voice of Palestine that these statements are meant to thwart the latest UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) resolutions regarding the Jerusalem [Noble] Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) and [the] Old [City of] Jerusalem through lies and claims about the Jews' alleged connection to it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Oct. 19, 2016, in the wake of UNESCO’s resolution erasing the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, that his government would help fund the Temple Mount Sifting Project of the Ir David Foundation. The project works to recover archaeological artifacts from approximately 400 truckloads of soil removed from the Temple Mount by the Waqf without supervision in 1999, as part of its illegal construction of the El-Marwani Mosque in the Solomon’s Stables area of the Temple Mount.
UNESCO passed a resolution in Paris on “Occupied Palestine” on Oct. 13, 2016, with 24 countries voting in favor, 6 against, and 24 abstentions. The resolution was later approved by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee on Oct. 26, 2016, in a secret ballot in which ten countries voted in favor of the resolution, two opposed, eight abstained, and one country, Jamaica, was absent.
In the resolution UNESCO refers to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, only as “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif,” and presents it only as a “Muslim holy site.” The resolution condemns “escalating Israeli aggressions” and Israeli “violations” at the site, and calls on Israel “to respect the integrity, authenticity and cultural heritage of Al-Aqṣa Mosque/Al-Ḥaram Al-Sharif… as a Muslim holy site of worship.” The resolution likewise refers to the Western Wall Plaza as the “Al-Buraq Plaza ‘Western Wall Plaza,’” adding quotation marks to the Jewish name for the site.
The resolution was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan.
The countries voting for the resolution were: Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Vietnam.
Those voting against it were: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, the UK, and the US.
Mexico later noted for the record that its position on the issue is one of abstention, although the vote count was unaffected.