PARIS, March 15, 2007 (WAFA) -- UNESCO's technical mission, sent to the Old City of Jerusalem from February 27 to March 2, has completed its technical assessment on the works conducted on the Mughrabi pathway leading to the Haram el-Sherif, it was reported Thursday.

Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura said in a press release that the mission has submitted to him their report, which includes recommendations that he "supports." As for the recommendations, one stresses that the Israeli government "should be asked to comply with its obligations regarding archaeological excavations and heritage conservation in World Heritage sites such as the Old City of Jerusalem," especially the decision adopted by the World Heritage Committee in July 2006 concerning this issue.

Another recommendation states that the Government of Israel should be asked to immediately stop the archaeological excavations "given that the excavations that had been undertaken were deemed to be sufficient for the purpose of assessing the structural conditions of the pathway." The Israeli government "should then clearly define the final design of the access structure, whose principal aim should be to restore the Mughrabi pathway without any major change to its structure and shape in order to maintain its values of authenticity and integrity of the site. A clear work plan thereon should be communicated to the World Heritage Committee in the shortest time possible, " one of the recommendations said.

The fourth recommendation stressed that the Israeli government "should be asked to engage immediately a consultation process with all concerned parties, in particular the authorities of Waqf and of Jordan." And agree upon a plan of action before taking any further action and decision thereon."

According to the fifth recommendation, "this process should be supervised by an international team of experts coordinated by UNESCO and involving in particular structural engineers." In order to ensure the most appropriate solution for the restoration of the Mughrabi pathway." Matsuura will be sending the report, as well as its conclusions, to the Presidents of UNESCO's Governing Bodies, the World Heritage Committee President and the Permanent Delegates to UNESCO.

The press release indicated that Matsuura "has announced his decision to convene an Information Meeting for UNESCO Member States" next Monday to be attended by the mission's expert members.

A.D (23:55P) (21:55GMT)