The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has condemned the attack by settlers on the World Heritage site (Palestine, the land of olives and grapes - the cultural scene of the terraces south of Jerusalem) in Battir, west of Beit Jala. 3/09/2019 A group of settlers under the protection of the Israeli Occupation Army (IOF) have bulldozed the World Heritage Site in Wadi al-Makhour area of ​​Beit Jala in an attempt to build a new outpost in this area.
This attack led to the destruction of part of the World Heritage site and the agricultural terraces and plant wealth that negatively affect its global value and cultural and environmental diversity and affect its integrity and authenticity irreplaceable or repaired.
The ministry considers that what the settlers are doing is a blatant violation of Palestinian and human heritage and Israeli piracy to control and destroy the Palestinian heritage, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the law and international conventions for the protection of heritage, especially the International Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972, the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Hague Convention. 1954 on the protection of cultural property during armed conflict and the 2001 UNESCO Universal Declaration on the Protection of Cultural Diversity.
The Ministry called on the international community, especially UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee, and international organizations to condemn this attack and appeals in particular to the Director-General of UNESCO to take immediate measures to stop the violation of the World Heritage site, and stresses the need to protect the land, Palestinian and human heritage in this region and all lands. Palestinian Authority.
It should be noted that the State of Palestine registered this site on the World Heritage List in 2014, and on the List of World Heritage in Danger, due to threats and dangers to the site by the Israeli occupation authorities, especially the separation wall and the settlement expansion that was planned to be built on the site, causing damage The cultural landscape of the site and its universal values ​​and its originality and integrity irreparably.
