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MULTIMEDIA
May 27, 2012
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ankara warns Israel ‘heritage’ move a threat to peace process

Israeli excavation work near and under Masjid al-Aqsa for the Temple of Solomon was strongly criticized by Muslims around the world.
26 February 2010 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, ANKARA
Calling Israel's decision to designate two shrines on Palestinian territory as Israeli national heritage sites a “provocative practice,” the Turkish capital has warned the Jewish state to refrain from “unilateral” moves that would impede efforts for the revival of the Middle East peace process.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has added two shrines in the West Bank to Israel's list of national heritage sites. The move, announced on Sunday, has sparked Palestinian protests and has drawn criticism from other quarters, including the UN. “We are concerned about the announcement by the Israeli authorities that certain historic artifacts in the West Bank, some of which are of importance to the Islamic world, will be accorded ‘Israeli cultural heritage' status,” said the Turkish Foreign Ministry in a written statement.

“This step will create serious distrust between parties and harm the intensified efforts made in this critical period to revive the negotiations for the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has been a source of grief for the people of the region for years,” the statement emphasized.

“We invite Israel to abide by international law in Jerusalem and the West Bank and to refrain from unilateral and provocative practices directed toward historic sites including sacred places for Muslims that are essentially a part of Islamic cultural heritage,” it concluded.

The Israeli move also sparked criticism from Washington just as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Wednesday that she hopes the long-stalled peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinians will resume.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Wednesday that the administration viewed the move as provocative and unhelpful to the goal of getting the two sides back to the table. Toner said US displeasure with the designations of the Cave of the Patriarchs in the flashpoint town of Hebron and the traditional tomb of the biblical matriarch Rachel in Bethlehem had been conveyed to senior Israeli officials by American diplomats. The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank as part of a future state and also protested the Israeli move as a provocative, largely symbolic gesture. The move heightened long-standing tensions, particularly around the shrine in Hebron.

Jews revere the site as the Cave of the Patriarchs, where the Bible says the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried along with their three wives. Muslims call it the al-Ibrahimi Mosque, reflecting that Abraham is considered the father of both Judaism and Islam.

In November 2008, Ankara cautioned Israel over plans for the construction of a museum in Jerusalem on a site that is now a Muslim cemetery in which companions of the Prophet Muhammad are buried. At the time, a top Israeli court’s ruling giving the go-ahead for the construction of the “Museum of Tolerance” led to tension in the region.

Earlier this month, Palestinian and international human rights activists petitioned the UN to stop the construction of the Museum of Tolerance, saying it would disturb centuries-old graves. Campaigners said they are turning to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights after Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a 2008 appeal to stop the Simon Wiesenthal Center from building the museum on part of the Mamilla cemetery.
 
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© Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş. 2007, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Cad. No: 6, Bahçelievler - İstanbul 34194 Turkey, +90 (212) 454 1454, +90 (212) 454 1497(fax)