Cablegate: Unesco - Israel Ambassador's Visit 28 May

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DE RUEHFR #1054/01 1551308
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 031308Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3235
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0729
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0324
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 1178
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 1163

UNCLAS PARIS 001054

FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS

SIPDIS

STATE PASS TO NPS - STEPHEN MORRIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNESCO SCUL KPAL XF FR IS JO
SUBJECT: UNESCO - ISRAEL AMBASSADOR'S VISIT 28 MAY

1. (U) Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Kornbluth met with Ambassador
Oliver on May 28 to review possible issues of concern that might be
raised during the upcoming World Heritage Committee meeting in
Quebec next month.

Negative Sites on the World Heritage List

2. (SBU) Ambassador Kornbluth began the meeting by suggesting that
the Israelis were considering ways to add other former Nazi
concentration camps besides Auschwitz to the World Heritage List the
in the future. Kornbluth said that he understood that there had
been an unwritten rule about only having one single "negative site"
on the List, but felt that it might now be time to add other sites,
given their historical importance and the urgent need to conserve
them.

3. (SBU) Ambassador Oliver agreed that there should not be a limit
on "negative sites", and gave the example of Goree Island in
Senegal, as a site that has a negative place in history, yet is on
the List today. At the same time, she suggested that rather than
lobbying to eliminate a rule that doesn't exist, it would simply be
better to put forward a nomination and have it advance based on its
merits and outstanding universal value.

World Heritage Center's Review of Overlapping Properties

4. (SBU) Kornbluth expressed concern over the World Heritage
Center's plans to institute a new review process described as a
"consistency check of the Tentative Lists received, aimed at
avoiding possible overlapping of proposed properties with those
already inscribed on the World Heritage List." Ambassador Kornbluth
said that he sees this proposal shifting decisions to the
international staff in the World Heritage Center and away from the
Member States represented on the WH Committee. Ambassador Oliver
agreed that this adds a huge amount of work for the World Heritage
Center, and is outside of its role. Kornbluth added that he does
not believe that the WH Center should decide what a sovereign state
can propose to add to the Tentative List. Ambassador Oliver said
that she believed that this new process is designed to focus on
Jerusalem, though it is drawn broadly to avoid a specific mention
of Jerusalem. During the discussion of possible Jerusalem-related
problems to anticipate in Quebec, Kornbluth said that Jerusalem
archeology is an "ongoing event" by the Israeli Antiquities
Authority, seeming to suggest that there could be some complaints
about new digs within the city walls.

5. (SBU) This comment tied into an intervention the previous day by
the Jordanian ambassador during an information meeting on Quebec
held on May 27 when the Jordanians used the opportunity to signal
their concern about the Israelis' again adding Jerusalem to the
Tentative List. (Note: "The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls" is
on the WH List as a Jordanian site). The Israeli proposal,
("Jerusalem - the Old City and Ramparts to include Mount Zion") is
not new, and has passed with clear caveats (see next paragraph),
which the Arab states agreed to repeatedly in the past. The
election of five Arab states to the 21-member WH Committee could,
however, change the dynamics in Quebec, where Jerusalem will surely
be brought to the table.

6. (U) (Following for addressee's info is the text of previous
decisions): *Note: This concerns the property entitled "Jerusalem -
the Old City and Ramparts to
include Mount Zion" proposed by Israel as an extension to the "'Old
City of Jerusalem and its Walls" inscribed on the World
Heritage List in 1981, upon proposal by Jordan. The Committee at its
25th Session (Helsinki, 2001) endorsed the recommendation of the
25th session of its Bureau (Paris, June 2001) "to postpone
further consideration of this nomination proposal until an agreement
on the status of the City of Jerusalem in conformity with
International Law is reached, or until the parties concerned submit
a joint nomination". It should be noted that, the UNESCO General
Conference in its Resolutions 32C/39 and 33C/50, affirmed that:
"(...) nothing in the present decision, which is aimed at the
safeguarding of the cultural heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem,
shall in any way affect the relevant United Nations resolutions and
decisions, in particular the relevant Security Council resolutions
on the legal status of
Jerusalem".

7. (SBU) Ambassador Kornbluth concluded by noting that Deputy
Director-General Marcio Barbosa (Brazil), is apparently not planning
to attend the WH Committee meeting in Quebec. Barbosa has been
UNESCO's point person for issues involving Jerusalem. Kornbluth
asked Ambassador Oliver to urge the Director-General to send Deputy
Director-General Barbosa to Quebec to ensure that any Jerusalem
related problems are kept under control. OLIVER

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