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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