RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A U.N. conference voted Sunday to add ruins near the ancient West Bank city of Jericho to the list of “world heritage sites in Palestine.” The decision is likely to anger Israel, which controls the area and does not recognize a Palestinian state.
Jericho is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth and lies in a part of the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority. The listing refers to the nearby Tel es-Sultan archaeological site, which contains prehistoric ruins dating back to the ninth millennium BC. BC and lies outside the ancient city itself.
The decision was made at a meeting of the UN World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO.
The ancient city joins three other “UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Palestine”: the Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route in Bethlehem, the cultural landscape of South Jerusalem and Battir, and the Old City in Hebron.
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Israel withdrew from UNESCO in 2019, accusing it of bias against UNESCO and weakening its ties to the Holy Land. Israel also rejected the admission of Palestine as a member state by UNESCO in 2011. But Israel remains a party to the World Heritage Convention and sent a delegation to the meeting in Riyadh.
Israel conquered the West Bank as well as Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians want all three areas for their future state. Israel considers the West Bank to be the biblical and cultural heartland of the Jewish people.
There have been no serious or substantive peace negotiations in over a decade, and Israel is currently led by the most nationalist and religious government in its history, making any move toward a Palestinian state almost inconceivable.
The modern city of Jericho is a major draw for tourists to the Palestinian territories due to its historical sites and proximity to the Dead Sea. In 2021, the Palestinian Authority unveiled major renovations to one of the Middle East’s largest mosaics in an 8th-century Jericho palace.
Palestinians visit Hisham Palace, where one of the world’s largest mosaic panels was unveiled after a multi-year restoration project, in the West Bank city of Jericho on October 28, 2021. (Photo by ABBAS MOMANI / AFP)
Before the vote, Likud lawmaker Dan Illouz wrote on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, that he had written to UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay.
“Jericho is, first and foremost, a city of biblical significance,” Illouz said.
“Obscuring this fact is an insult to the millions of Jews and Christians around the world,” he said in a statement.
“Such a decision would constitute a blatant interference by UNESCO in a conflict in which it is not its role to intervene,” accused Illouz. “It is our duty to stop the subversion of the Palestinian Authority and insist on our right to our land.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report