RAMALLAH, August 21, 2025 (WAFA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to uphold its responsibilities in protecting Palestinian archaeological sites from the dangers of Judaization and annexation.
This came in a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry following the Israeli occupation authorities’ announcement of the designation of 63 sites in the West Bank as Israeli heritage sites.
The Ministry affirmed that this announcement constitutes a blatant violation of international law, the Geneva Conventions, and signed agreements.
The statement said the classification of the sites comes as part of a colonial plan to seize control of 2,400 sites across the West Bank by force of occupation, within the framework of a colonial ideology pursued by the occupation government to intensify the crimes of gradual annexation, alter the West Bank’s features and identity, impose new realities on the ground, and change its geography and demographic reality.
The Ministry indicated that the classification of these sites is among the largest acts of piracy and theft of Palestinian land for purely colonial purposes, under flimsy pretexts and baseless claims unsupported by any documented historical evidence, describing it as an open crime of falsifying both history and the present.
The Ministry added that this also represents another form of colonialism, particularly settler colonialism, this time targeting the civilization of the Palestinian people and their archaeological and historical sites.
The Ministry called on the international community to act swiftly to expose this crime and confront the Israeli narrative being promoted to intensify settler presence and control over these sites, the majority of which are located in the heart of Palestinian cities and towns.
The Ministry reiterated that these plans threaten the possibility of realizing the State of Palestine on the ground, through the Judaization of these sites and the erasure of their identity. Therefore, swift international recognition of the State of Palestine contributes to safeguarding the prospects of implementing and preserving the two-state solution, the statement concluded.
T.R.
