Israel's ambassador to United Nations cultural agency UNESCO said Tuesday he will recommend that Israel reconsider its decision to leave the organization or at least postpone its scheduled departure at the end of the year.
Ambassador Carmel Shama Hacohen spoke hours after UNESCO's World Heritage Committee agreed at a meeting in Bahrain to put off for a year controversial resolutions on the Old City of Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Hebron.
The United States, quickly followed by Israel, decided last year to leave UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Among the reasons cited was the anti-Israel bias at the agency, where the Jewish state and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.
The withdrawal process requires a year, and both exits are scheduled to take effect Dec. 31.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called UNESCO a "theater of the absurd" that distorts history instead of preserving it.
The committee's agreement to do nothing with the pair of resolutions for one year was seen as a victory for UNESCO, which has become a forum for bitter political spats between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, jeopardizing its credibility and work. The PA became a member of the organization in 2011.
Other sensitive resolutions were postponed in April.
Hacohen, who was not in Bahrain for the committee meeting, said Tuesday that he would "recommend at least to reconsider our decision" to withdraw. Another option would be to postpone the departure date, he said.
"I'm not sure that it will be enough and change dramatically the decisions" because the topics of Jerusalem and UNESCO have become so sensitive in Israel, he said. "We still have to work on it."
The United States played a key role in working out the stand-down, and U.S. officials at UNESCO are considering making another plea for Congress to allow the U.S. to remain a member by changing a law that has reduced the country's role at the agency, a senior U.S. official said.
However, a reversal would be an expensive proposition because arrears are mounting. The flow of U.S. funds to UNESCO was halted after the PA became a member. Before that, the U.S. contributed $80 million annually – 22% of UNESCO's overall budget.
The Israeli ambassador and U.S. officials have portrayed UNESCO's new Director General Audrey Azoulay as bringing a new spirit to the organization, and the recent decisions not to deal with divisive resolutions as a potential opening to setting the rocky ship aright.
Addressing the World Heritage Committee, Azoulay said that she wanted her office to be a facilitator, if others were willing.
However, Hacohen said there still would be no access for UNESCO experts to check Jerusalem and its walls.
Both the Old City of Jerusalem and the biblical city of Hebron are on the World Heritage List of endangered sites, meaning their status must be reviewed annually. Last year's decision to add Hebron as a Palestinian heritage site outraged Israel, which said Jewish national symbols were being appropriated.
