Alwaght- The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted a resolution on Tuesday, reaffirming the right of the Palestinians to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the al-Quds (Jerusalem).
The draft of the resolution called “Occupied Palestine” was ratified last week by the agency’s commission and now the agency spokesman says the agency’s executive board passed the measure by consensus.
Twenty-four countries voted in favor of the UNESCO resolution on October 11, twenty-six states abstained from voting, while six countries - the United States, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia - opposed the motion.
The adopted text condemned Israeli regime for limiting Muslims’ freedom of worship by “escalating aggression and illegal measures” regarding the holy site.
It further condemned the “continuous storming of al-Aqsa Mosque and Haram al-Sharif by the Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces … [and] forceful entering by so-called ‘Israeli Antiquities’ officials".
Tel Aviv reacted furiously by suspending relations with the international body. The resolution was considered the second anti-Israeli move by UNESCO that had adopted another motion back in April, denouncing "Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship and Muslims' access to the al-Aqsa Mosque".
Mounir Anastas, Palestine's deputy ambassador to UNESCO, said that the motion "reminds Israel that they are the occupying power in East Jerusalem and it asks them to stop all their violations," including archaeological excavations around religious sites.
