The U.S has provided no funding to UNESCO since Palestine was admitted as a full member in 2011. The Obama administration cited a pre-existing law that prohibits funding any UN agency or affiliate that grants full membership to non-states, which was put in place after Palestine applied for UNESCO and
WHO membership in April 1989. The U.S. and Israel were among just 14 of 194 members that voted against admitting the Palestinians in 2011. The Executive summary, the Nomination Text, Annexes and Maps (all files located here) are the documents submitted by Palestine to the World Heritage Centre on 30 January 2017 and requested for expedited consideration on May 21, 2017. The
International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) subsequently sought access to the Old City of Hebron but Israel refused it entry because "On a strategic and principled level, the State of Israel will not take part in and will not legitimize any Palestinian political move under the guise of culture and heritage." Reporting on the ICOMOS report, the
Jerusalem Post noted that "the association of Hebron with Jewish and early Christian societies is given little recognition, and Tell Rumeida [an area of Biblical Hebron] and other sites are excluded from the boundaries," and that "the PA would have done better with an expanded timeline and larger geographical area of the city, which could have spoken of its importance to the development of three monotheistic religions starting from 2200 BCE." while also writing that "The absence of a field visit, plus the limited details of the Palestinian report, meant that ICOMOS "could not fully evaluate" the proposal or confirm that the site met the qualifications for inscription." and that "The actual text of the decision states that ICOMOS was not able to fully evaluate the site due to the absence of a field visit." and "The threats and violations reflect a long-standing and complex political situation" requiring "a political response". Professor and author
Lynn Meskell compares the negotiations to list Hebron with the case of Battir, noting that Palestine had documented acts of vandalism, site damage and other attacks on the property and that the Palestinians requested the secretariat for a danger listing to ensure safeguarding and international standards of conservation. Orly Noy, writing for
+972 Magazine, says that UNESCO considers whether a site is worth inclusion in the list and which national entity it falls under, that the resolution does not deny the Jewish connection to Hebron or the Tomb of the Patriarchs and that resolutions about Hebron recognize the fact that the city is holy to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; but Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu stated that a Jewish connection to the site had been denied. In a pre-emption of the Palestinian nomination, in February 2010 the Israeli government had adopted the
National Heritage Sites project including the Cave of the Patriarchs as well as other Palestinian sites; the moves was heavily criticized by the
Obama administration, and has been described as "ignor[ing] much of the cultural heritage of the land that cannot be characterized as exclusively Jewish". Subsequently, in 2017, the U.S. announced that it was leaving UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias, and Israel followed suit. This followed resolutions on Jerusalem in 2016 and the listed subject of this article. Washington's arrears at the time were over $500 million. Their departure took effect at the end of 2018. ==Gallery==