AMMAN (JT) – UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee on Monday voted in favour of a Jordanian and Arab decision on the city of Jerusalem and Bab Al Magharbeh.
The decision was made during the 35th session of UNESCO’s executive board, which was held yesterday in Paris with the participation of a Jordanian delegation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
In yesterday’s decision, UNESCO voiced its “deep” concern over Israel’s continued excavations at the old Jerusalem’s gate and the area surrounding it, in addition to Israel’s failure to provide the World Heritage Centre with information on these excavation works, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mohammad Kayed.
Under the decision, UNESCO also called on Israel to stop its works in the Old City immediately and requested that the World Heritage Centre detail in its periodic reports to the World Heritage Committee all obstacles placed by the Israeli side and its justifications for not providing the centre with the required information in this regard.
Bab Al Magharbeh, or Moroccans Gate, was listed, as part of East Jerusalem, upon a Jordanian request on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1981 and the list of endangered world heritage sites in 1982.
