[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 433 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 433

Disapproving of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural 
Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee Inscription of Hebron as 
              a Palestinian World Heritage Site in Danger.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 11, 2017

Mr. Hastings submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Disapproving of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural 
Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee Inscription of Hebron as 
              a Palestinian World Heritage Site in Danger.

Whereas, on July 7, 2017, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and 
        Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at the request of the permanent 
        delegation of Palestine, designated the ancient city of Hebron as a 
        World Heritage Site in Danger;
Whereas UNESCO's online report of the resolution's passage refers to the 
        inscription of Hebron as ``Al Khalil Old town, Palestine'';
Whereas the Cave of the Patriarchs, a shrine in ancient Hebron holy to Jews, 
        Christians, and Muslims, is recognized as the burial place of the 
        Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish people, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, 
        Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah, and is the second most holy site in Judaism;
Whereas the Cave of the Patriarchs sits within a compound constructed by Herod, 
        an ancient King of Judea during the Second Temple Period over 2,000 
        years ago, to serve as a place for Jewish prayers at the grave sites of 
        the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of Judaism;
Whereas the city of Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs were conquered 700 
        years ago by the Mamluks, who converted the Judean compound into a 
        mosque and forbade Jews from entering;
Whereas Jews were prohibited from entering the Cave of the Patriarchs until 
        Hebron's liberation during the 1967 Six-Day War, after which it was re-
        established as a place where all religions could worship under certain 
        restrictions;
Whereas UNESCO's minimization of Jewish connections to Hebron and the Cave of 
        the Patriarchs is a politicization of world heritage;
Whereas since ``Palestine'' was admitted to UNESCO in 2011, the Palestine 
        Liberation Organization (PLO) has been successful in efforts to have 
        UNESCO designate the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the 
        Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir as Palestinian World 
        Heritage Sites in Danger;
Whereas the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security 
        Council, and other United Nations agencies have purposefully and 
        consistently pursued an anti-Israel agenda, and have adopted numerous 
        resolutions inherently biased against Israel, most recently including--

    (1) United Nations World Health Assembly Agenda Item 19, adopted on May 
26, 2017, which singled out only Israel as a violator of ``mental, 
physical, and environmental health'', and asserted that Israeli occupation 
was a ``major cause of the problems'';

    (2) a decision adopted by the UNESCO Executive Board on May 2, 2017, 
which significantly undermined Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem and 
rejected all legislative and administrative measures taken by Israel in the 
city as ``null and void'', rejected Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, the 
holiest place of the Jewish people, and condemned Israeli conduct in Gaza;

    (3) language from the same May 2, 2017, decision, which expressed 
``deep concern'' about the effects of attacks on schools and other 
educational and cultural facilities in Gaza, while notably ignoring the 
terrorist organization Hamas' use of United Nations Relief and Works Agency 
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools to store and fire 
rockets at Israeli civilians;

    (4) UNESCO Agenda Item 19, adopted during the 199th meeting of the 
Executive Board on April 15, 2016, which notably omitted historic Jewish 
ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall area in Jerusalem's Old City, 
condemned Israeli actions taken in response to Palestinian violence, and 
accused Israel of placing ``Jewish fake graves'' in the vicinity of the al-
Aqsa mosque;

    (5) the resolution adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women on 
March 24, 2017, which singled out only Israel and expressed ``grave concern 
about the increased difficulties being faced by Palestinian women and 
girls'' and ``[deplored] the dire economic and social conditions of 
Palestinian women and girls''; and

    (6) United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted on 
December 23, 2016, which condemned Israeli settlement activity as a 
flagrant violation of international law without distinguishing between 
Jewish holy sites and remote settlements in the West Bank;

Whereas since its creation in June 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Council 
        has passed 67 resolutions condemning Israel, more than all other 
        countries combined;
Whereas the United Nations General Assembly adopted 20 resolutions at the end of 
        2016 singling out or condemning Israel; and
Whereas anti-Israel resolutions adopted by the United Nations and its agencies 
        undermine and cause significant damage to the Israeli-Palestinian Peace 
        Process: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) disapproves of the United Nations Educational, 
        Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage 
        Committee inscription of Hebron as a Palestinian World Heritage 
        Site in Danger;
            (2) rejects any future resolution considered by the United 
        Nations General Assembly, United Nations Security Council, or 
        other United Nations agencies that is inherently anti-Israel or 
        seeks to impose a solution on final status issues related to 
        the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process; and
            (3) strongly urges members of the United Nations and its 
        agencies to refrain from further inflaming tensions in Israel 
        and the Palestinian territories with historically revisionist 
        and anti-Israel resolutions.
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