RABAT, February 22, 2010 (WAFA)- The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) strongly condemned the Israeli occupation authorities’ decision to add Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi in Hebron and Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque in Bethlehem to the list of Israeli heritage sites.

ISESCO considered such a decision as a violation of international law, since Hebron and Bethlehem are among the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967, whose geographic, cultural and archaeological aspects should not be altered and whose ownership by the Palestinian people is legally inalienable.

On this occasion, ISESCO called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), among whose attributions is the protection of world heritage sites against falsification and appropriation, to take immediate action to stop the enforcement of Israel’s decision and urged the international community to pressure Israel into cancelling it.

By the same token, ISESCO vigorously deplored the wide-scale excavations being carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities beneath the walls of Al-Quds, between Bab Al-Amood and Bab Al-Sahra, and explained that Bab Al-Amood is the main entrance to both the Old District of the Holy City and the Aqsa Mosque.