The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Wednesday adopted two agenda items declaring that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem are part of "occupied Palestine."
The agenda items, which will come up for a vote next April, state that the two sites - both key Jewish heritage sites - are "an integral part of occupied Palestinian territory" and condemn Israel's construction of a security fence and "other measures aimed at altering the character, status and demographic composition of the occupied Palestinian territory."
Both draft resolutions were sponsored jointly by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan. UNESCO's 59-member Executive Committee reportedly approved the resolutions within minutes.
UNESCO is known for its anti-Israel bias. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Paris-based agency has adopted 71 resolutions against Israel since 2009, and only two resolutions that condemn all the other countries together.
In May 2017, UNESCO declared Israel an "occupying force" in Jerusalem in a resolution supported by Russia, China, Brazil, Iran, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, Sweden, Russia, China, Brazil, Nicaragua and Chad.
In January, with the support of 21 envoys, UNESCO passed a resolution characterizing the Cave of the Patriarchs as a Palestinian World Heritage Site.
The body's consistent anti-Israel bias prompted the United States and Israel to announce they would withdraw from UNESCO. Washington said it would opt for an observer-state status, while Israel is expected to exit the agency completely.
Both moves are set to come into effect on Jan. 1, 2019.
Two weeks ago, Netanyahu declined an invitation to participate in a UNESCO conference on anti-Semitism, citing the organization's "persistent and egregious bias against Israel."
As for Israel's planned departure from the U.N. cultural body, Netanyahu said that "in withdrawing from UNESCO in 2017, we made a clear moral statement that UNESCO's anti-Semitism will no longer be tolerated."
"If and when UNESCO ends its bias against Israel, stops denying history and starts standing up for the truth, Israel will be honored to rejoin," Netanyahu said.
Meanwhile, however, in a rare display of consensus, Israeli and Arab diplomats agreed on resolutions concerning Jerusalem and Palestinian education on Wednesday, as UNESCO seeks to convince Israel to change its mind about quitting.
Under UNESCO's mediation, the Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian delegations compromised on resolutions covering the protection of Jerusalem's Old City and Palestinian education.
The texts promote schools and training programs, while divisive issues were set aside in annexes of the agreements.
Two European diplomats said the compromises had raised hopes that Israel could be persuaded to postpone or even cancel its decision to quit UNESCO.
Passing a resolution would allow stalled UNESCO projects to continue by setting aside the disputes.
"UNESCO is playing on diplomatic ambiguity to get the ball rolling again," said one of the diplomats.
When asked whether Israel would reconsider its decision to quit UNESCO, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment.
The texts are set to be reviewed again in April, after Israel is due to leave the organization.
In a statement, UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay said the compromise "reminds us of the need to sit around the table here at UNESCO and show goodwill. These are the foundations of the consensus reached again today."
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been suspended since 2014 and efforts to revive them have so far been unsuccessful.
The Palestinians were admitted into UNESCO in 2011, against objections from Israel, which argues that the Palestinian Authority should not be admitted as a member-state of U.N. bodies until it achieves statehood through an agreed process at the culmination of peace talks.
A UNESCO diplomatic source said the compromise showed that Israel and the United States should reconsider exiting the agency, given years of the previous stalemate at the body.
"There is a real question here for the Americans and especially for the Israelis to see what conclusions they draw from this decision," the source said.
