Executive Board
Hundred and ninety-ninth session
199 EX/PX/DR.19.1 Rev.
PARIS, 11 April 2016
Original: English
PROGRAMME AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS COMMISSION (PX)
Item 19
OCCUPIED PALESTINE
DRAFT DECISION
Submitted by: Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan
I.
I.A
Jerusalem
The Executive Board,
1.
Having examined document 199 EX/19,
2.
Recalling the provisions of the four Geneva Conventions (1949) and their additional
Protocols (1977), the 1907 Hague Regulations on Land Warfare, the Hague Convention for
the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) and its additional
Protocols, the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import,
Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970) and the Convention for the
Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972), the inscription of the Old City of
Jerusalem and its Walls at the request of Jordan on the World Heritage List (1981) and on
the List of World Heritage in Danger (1982), and the recommendations, resolutions and
decisions of UNESCO on the protection of cultural heritage, as well as resolutions and
decisions of UNESCO relating to Jerusalem, also recalling previous UNESCO decisions
related to the reconstruction and development of Gaza as well as UNESCO decisions on the
two Palestinian sites in Al-Khalil/Hebron and in Bethlehem,
3.
Affirming that nothing in the present decision, which aims, inter alia, at the safeguarding of
the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem, shall in any
way affect the relevant Security Council and United Nations resolutions and decisions on the
legal status of Palestine and Jerusalem,
4.
Deeply regrets the Israeli refusal to implement UNESCO previous Decisions concerning
Jerusalem particularly 185 EX/Decision 14 and notes that its request to the Director-General
to appoint, as soon as possible, a permanent representative to be stationed in East
Jerusalem to report on a regular basis about all the aspects covering the fields of
competence of UNESCO in East Jerusalem,has not been fulfilled and reiterates its request to
the Director-General to appoint the abovementioned representative;
5.
Deeply deplores the failure of Israel, the Occupying Power, to cease the persistent
excavations and works in East Jerusalem particularly in and around the Old City, and
reiterates its request to Israel, the Occupying Power, to prohibit all such works in conformity