Netanyahu slams UNESCO decision on Bethlehem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the UNESCO decision to grant world heritage status to the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem proved that the UN cultural organization was motivated by politics. "This decision proves that UNESCO is motivated by political motives, not cultural ones," Netanyahu said in a statement. "Rather than progressing towards peace, the Palestinians are resorting to unilateral moves that push it farther away," he added. Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Ministry poured scorn on the decision. "What we saw today was truly the theater of the absurd," said ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor, condemning the Palestinians for "excessive politicization" of UNESCO. Israel's delegate in Saint Petersburg said the Jewish state supported awarding world heritage status to the church under a completely different procedure that carried no implications for the Middle East peace process. "The decision taken now was totally political and does great damage in our opinion to the (UN) convention and its image," the delegate charged. Israel said the "emergency basis" status essentially meant that the United Nations as a world body was backing the Palestinian view that the church was threatened by Israeli troops. UNESCO's World Heritage committee on Thursday approved the Palestinian bid to place the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on its list of sites of World Heritage in Danger - a move seen by some nations as dangerously mixing politics and culture. The bid, the first since the Palestinians won controversial membership of UNESCO in October 2011, was submitted "on an emergency basis" because Palestinians say urgent restoration work to the church is needed.