The Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at its 221st session held today, Wednesday, in Paris, unanimously adopted two resolutions on the State of Palestine: occupied Palestine and cultural and educational institutions. UNESCO considers these resolutions to be among the most important tools for preserving the rights of the Palestinian people, particularly in light of the crimes and violations committed by Israel, the illegal occupying power, particularly in the Gaza Strip, and its disregard for international law and international humanitarian law.

The two resolutions call for a halt to excavations, works, and projects in occupied Jerusalem, in and around the Old City, and at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, and for a halt to all settlement activities, including the construction of the wall and the construction of roads for settlers, violations of freedom of movement and freedom of access to places of worship, and other measures aimed at altering the character and composition of the occupied Palestinian territory, including the social fabric of Palestinian society.

The two resolutions affirmed that the World Heritage Sites of the occupied city of Jerusalem and its walls, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Old City of Hebron, including the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs, are an integral part of the territory of the State of Palestine and its cultural heritage, and require special protection from destruction, alteration, or the deployment of military forces therein.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomed the two decisions, stressing the need to implement the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, its decision issued by the General Assembly, and other UN resolutions and precautionary measures issued by the Court. It also rejected the policy of double standards and international complicity in granting the occupation immunity and preventing accountability for international crimes, including the crime of genocide.

The Foreign Ministry stressed that the adoption of these resolutions remains a testament to the international community's ability to fulfill its responsibilities toward peoples, their heritage, and their history, which are threatened by Israeli colonialism.

It also pointed out the importance of these decisions in confronting attempts to forge and deliberately destroy Palestinian historical, heritage and cultural sites, as well as other violations of World Heritage sites and attempts to change the historical and legal identity, including in the occupied city of Jerusalem, its walls, and Al-Aqsa Mosque, including excavations and the electric elevator project, which includes digging tunnels in the Old City of Jerusalem, and the roof of the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, which constitutes a deliberate interference that undermines the exceptional universal value of the site, its integrity and the ecological balance of the site, in addition to its ongoing blockade and systematic destruction of the Gaza Strip and violations of "settlement expansion" in the World Heritage site called "Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines from Battir, south of Jerusalem."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs commended the role of the sisterly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in particular, and the positions of sisterly and friendly countries that support the unanimous adoption of these resolutions. It called on the international community and UNESCO to take the necessary clear and practical steps to stop Israel, the colonial occupation authority, from its crimes. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the failure to implement UNESCO resolutions, the provisions of international law, and relevant United Nations resolutions encourages and allows the occupying authorities to continue their crimes in the Gaza Strip and works to create the conditions for the continuation of violations, killings, and the crime of genocide that directly target civilians, journalists, students, schools, and the destruction of cultural and holy sites.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for the dispatch of a UNESCO monitoring mission and the dispatch of a representative of the Director-General to Jerusalem to investigate the deliberate Israeli acts of sabotage and submit reports to the relevant authorities to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.