Free Republic

PARIS (Reuters) – Peking Opera, Spanish Flamenco and the art of French gastronomy won places Tuesday on UNESCO's list of intangible world heritages to preserve. The U.N. culture and education agency deemed the traditions and 43 others from a total of 11 countries worthy of recognition on the list at a meeting in Nairobi. Among the more obscure traditions, Luxembourg won recognition for a centuries-old annual hopping procession in the eastern border village of Echternach. The blade-twirling of a scissor-dancing ritual in Peru's Chanka region, which has roots going back to the 16th century, was also nominated as was Turkey's...

Last week saw an upsurge in Palestinian riots and attacks against Israeli vehicles in Gaza and the West Bank. What crime did Israel commit to invite the wave of violence? Israel’s government simply announced that it intended to honor the country’s heritage by including the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem in a list of Israeli national “heritage” sites. The violence-fueled Palestinian reaction may seem entirely disproportionate to Israel’s offense. But a look at the historical background shows that it is not without grim precedent. For several decades, Palestinians have been attacking Jewish worshipers at...

Large quantities of explosives have been placed in the Joseph’s Tomb complex in Shechem, preventing our forces now operating in Shechem from entering the holy site and liberating it once again from the hands of PLO militia forces. The IDF abandoned the holy site on 7 October 2000, in the beginning of the Oslo War, after soldier Madhat Yousef was permitted to bleed to death over a period of hours as the government negotiated with the PA to permit forces to extricate the army force and the gravely wounded soldier. Since that time, PA residents who immediately disgraced the sanctity...

When the Israeli cabinet announced the other day that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, would be included in a list of Israeli “heritage” sites, it touched off a wave of Palestinian violence and threats—along with diplomatic protests that were all too concordant with the Palestinian bullying.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has launched the “heritage” program as a way of strengthening Israelis’ connection with their Jewish and Zionist roots, initially left the two West Bank sites (though other West Bank sites were included) off the list, apparently fearing various kinds of fallout. Netanyahu...

Speaking to Saudi paper, Turkish PM criticizes Israel's nat'l heritage list. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday continued his verbal assault on Israel, according to Saudi paper Al Wattan, which quoted him as saying that that al Aksa Mosque, the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb “were not and never will be Jewish sites, but Islamic sites.” Erdogan was referring to Israel’s recent inclusion of the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb on its national heritage list, but it was unclear why he mentioned the Aksa Mosque, since that site was not included. Speaking to Palestinian...

The security cabinet approved on Wednesday Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal to incorporate Rachel's Tomb, located outside of Bethlehem, within a security ring being built around Jerusalem. Access to the holy site was guaranteed by Israeli-Palestinian agreements but the violence of the past two years has made it difficult for worshippers to visit. Critics said the cabinet decision "annexed" the territory into Jerusalem city limits. The cabinet-approved plan calls for a new access road to the tomb to be built by the IDF and the Jerusalem Municipality. The army's roadblock and crossing point from Bethlehem into Jerusalem would be moved...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday slammed world culture organization UNESCO's decision to characterize the site of Rachel's Tomb as a Muslim mosque. "The attempt to separate the nation of Israel from its cultural heritage is absurd," said the prime minister. A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office read, "It is unfortunate that an organization that was established with the goal of promoting the cultural preservation of historical sites around the world, is attempting due to political reasons to uproot the connection between the nation of Israel and its cultural heritage."

We've succeeded in saving Rahel's Tomb," says Kever Rahel Fund founder and director Miriam Adani. Adani was responding to the decision by the High Court of Justice last week to dismiss petitions by 18 local Palestinians, together with the Bethlehem and Beit Jala municipalities, against construction of a bypass road leading to the compound. The new route will annex Rahel's Tomb to Jerusalem's municipal boundaries and place it within a segment of the planned "envelope" barrier being constructed along the city's southern perimeter. Adani, who established the Kever Rahel fund in 1999, reveals that for her and her supporters, the...

On October 21, UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) declared that Rachel’s Tomb near Jerusalem is the Bilal ibn Rabah mosque – endorsing a Palestinian claim that first surfaced only in 1996 and which ignores centuries of Muslim tradition. In a series of decisions condemning Israel, the UNESCO board called upon the government to rescind its decision in February to include Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Israel’s official list of national heritage sites.(snip) Yet anyone visiting the site today will find it difficult to identify the image known to generations of Jews.

* UNESCO has declared that Rachel's Tomb near Jerusalem is the Bilal ibn Rabah mosque - endorsing a Palestinian claim that first surfaced only in 1996 and which ignores centuries of Muslim tradition. * As opposed to the Temple Mount and the Cave of the Patriarchs which also serve as the location of mosques, Rachel's Tomb never served as a mosque for the Muslims. The Muslim connection to the site derives from its relation to Rachel and has no connection to Bilal ibn Rabah, Mohammed's first muezzin. * Rachel's Tomb, located some 460 meters south of Jerusalem's municipal boundary, has...

JERUSALEM, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Israel said it will stop cooperating with UNESCO after it designated Rachel's Tomb, a Jewish holy site outside of Bethlehem as a Muslim mosque, officials said. Danny Ayalon, deputy minister of foreign affairs accused the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization of siding with the Palestinian Authority in an effort to de-legitimize Israel, Ynetnews.com said Thursday. "We should see the organization's call to remove the Cave of Patriarchs (in Hebron) and Rachel's Tomb (in Bethlehem) from the list of Israel's national sites as a part of Palestinian escalation in international organizations," he told the...

The Palestinian Authority and the Jewish Holy Sites in the West Bank: Rachel's Tomb as a Test Case * Rachel's Tomb lies on the northern outskirts of Bethlehem, about 460 meters (about 500 yards) south of the Jerusalem municipal border, and for more than 1,700 years has been identified as the tomb of the matriarch Rachel. * According to the armistice agreement signed on April 3, 1949, Jordan was to allow Israel "free access to the Holy Places and cultural institutions and use of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives." In practice, Jordan did not allow Jews free access...

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted recently to officially declare Rachel's Tomb to be a mosque. UNESCO director Irena Bokova had previously stated “concern” at Israel's decision to treat the tomb as a heritage site. The vote called for Rachel's Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs – the burial site of the other Biblical Patriarchs and Matriarchs – to be removed from Israel's National Heritage list. The Palestinian Authority has claimed that Rachel's Tomb is holy to Muslims as the site of a mosque called the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque. The PA demands control over...

Top 10 Reasons I Hate the UN10. UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural OrganizationMay 28, 2009:I’d think that seriously advocating book burning at any time would disqualify you, since presumably there are equally qualified candidates for the UN’s cultural heritage agency who’ve never advocated destroying cultural heritage. But Israeli society is toxic anyway – especially compared to the glory that is the contemporary Egyptian public sphere – so no loss:Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, a candidate for the top job at the United Nations culture agency UNESCO, apologised on Wednesday for calling for Israeli books to be burnt… Hosni...

Julian Huxley, the head of UNESCO in 1947, wrote a book titled, “UNESCO: Its Purpose and Its Philosophy.” His book was a blueprint for a New World Order that called for a single 'new' spirituality---a mixture of Buddhist materialist-pantheism, Liberalized 'pantheistic' Christianity, Gnosticism, and other occult traditions--- one language, and one way of thinking. He believed a global order could be brought about through the universal implementation of Hegel’s Dialectic process. Huxley observed, “The task before UNESCO…is to help the emergence of a single world culture with its own philosophy and background of ideas and with its own broad purpose.”...

Think Globally Read Locally Malcolm A. Kline, January 22, 2010 The UN warns that illiteracy is a global problem but Americans may not have to look that far to find it. “Far too many young people emerge from primary school unable to read or write,” UNESCO warns. “In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, young adults with five years of primary schooling have a 40% chance of being illiterate.” The U. S. could catch up in this race to the bottom. “The skills and knowledge that college instructors expect entering students to have are more focused and specific than what high...

UNESCO Unhinged Malcolm A. Kline, November 4, 2009 Not content to merely soak up billions of tax dollars it cannot account for and excuse the actions of totalitarian regimes around the world, the United Nations has come up with guidelines for sex education in countries such as the one that hosts the UN. “In the guidelines, UNESCO tells teachers around the world to present abstinence until marriage as ‘only one of a range of choices available to young people’ in order to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases,” The Education Reporter reports. “The guidelines have children ages five to eight...

Children As Young As Five To Learn About Masturbation and Abortion Under New UN Guidelines By KIRSTY WALKER 10th September 2009 Children as young as five should be taught about explicit sex acts, according to guidelines from the United Nations. The advice also calls for youngsters to learn about abortion, same-sex relationships and sexually transmitted diseases. The draft report on sex education has been compiled by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Too young? Children as young as five could be taught about masturbation if UNESCO guidelines are followed (file photo) The guidance is due to be...

SNIPPET: "The new head of the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), an agency that gets 22 percent of its regular $600 million-plus annual budget from U.S. taxpayers, will be selected in a process that involves behind-closed-doors interviewing and a secret ballot vote." SNIPPET: "Farouk Hosni, who has been Egypt’s culture minister for more than two decades, leads a nine-strong field of hopefuls. He leads largely because he has the backing of the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the African Union, and because Arab governments say it is the Arab world’s turn." SNIPPET:...

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- A new report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been roundly criticized since its release. Now, a new analysis of the 94-page documents finds the UN agency is calling for children to promote abortions across the globe.The analysis finds children are not only told about abortion and where to obtain one but encouraged to be trained to “advocate” the pro-abortion position.The report, entitled International Guidelines on Sexual Education, is filled with advice for sex education instructors to advance the abortion agenda. It calls on making children as young as...