Ramallah: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has called upon the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to fulfill its responsibilities in safeguarding Palestinian archaeological sites from the threats of Judaization and annexation.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, this appeal follows the recent declaration by Israeli occupation authorities to designate 63 sites in the West Bank as Israeli heritage sites. The Ministry has condemned this declaration as a blatant violation of international law, the Geneva Conventions, and existing agreements.
The Ministry's statement highlighted that the classification of these sites is part of a colonial agenda aimed at seizing control of 2,400 sites across the West Bank through occupation. This effort is seen as an attempt to implement a colonial ideology that seeks to intensify crimes of gradual annexation, alter the West Bank's features and identity, and impose new realities on the ground, thereby changing its geography and demographic reality.
Furthermore, the Ministry described the designation as one of the most significant acts of piracy and theft of Palestinian land for purely colonial ambitions, carried out under flimsy pretexts and unsupported claims. It condemned the move as an overt crime of historical and present-day falsification.
The Ministry also highlighted that this initiative represents another form of settler colonialism targeting the civilization of the Palestinian people and their archaeological and historical sites. It called on the international community to act promptly to expose this crime and counter the Israeli narrative aimed at intensifying settler presence and control over these sites, many of which are situated in the heart of Palestinian cities and towns.
Reaffirming its stance, the Ministry emphasized that these plans threaten the feasibility of establishing the State of Palestine on the ground through the Judaization of these sites and the erasure of their identity. Swift international recognition of the State of Palestine, it asserted, is crucial to safeguarding the prospects of implementing and preserving the two-state solution.