(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) A majority of members of the UNESCO Executive Board have supported the adoption of a resolution condemning Israeli behaviour in occupied East Jerusalem and criticising the Jewish State for not protecting this valuable heritage site and for damaging others.
The UNESCO resolution was voted despite some earlier objections from Director-General Irina Bokova and it got 26 votes out of 58 in the organisation's Executive Board.
The resolution was put forward and sponsored by the Arab group in UNESCO and it was prepared by Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia and the UAE.
Only six member countries opposed the resolution, among them the United States, Britain, Germany and Holland, while 25 nations abstained in the vote.
The resolution dropped one key article which called for the Western Wall to be integrated into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Al-Haram As-Sharif in Jerusalem, a move that would have been very controversial as it is a major Jewish praying point in the city.
But the resolution nonetheless uses strong language to condemn Israel and to "deplore the recent repression in (Occupied) East Jerusalem." The resolution also condemns Israeli failure to preserve heritage sites in East Jerusalem by ongoing excavations that are damaging archaeological treasures there.
More broadly, the UNESCO resolution blasts Israel for failing to rebuild multiple cultural and education sites it has destroyed through repeated military action against the Gaza Strip.
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