UNESCO places occupied West Bank, Lebanon sites on endangered heritage list

Sebastia in the occupied West Bank and five Lebanese castles get emergency listing despite Israeli objections.UNESCO has added sites in the occupied West Bank and Lebanon to the list of endangered World Heritage sites, despite Israeli objections.A committee vote on Friday at a UNESCO meeting in Busan, South Korea, placed six locations on both the main World Heritage list and the endangered list at once, under an emergency procedure, citing the toll of the ongoing conflicts in the region.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Rebuilding Gaza to cost $71bn, must include Palestinians, report findslist 2 of 3US court affirms release of pro-Palestine scholar as legal battle continueslist 3 of 3Israel’s illegal settlements are Europe’s credibility testend of listThe locations include a biblical archaeological site in the West Bank and five castles in southern Lebanon, one of which was recently seized by Israeli troops.Member states of the UN’s cultural agency approved the listings despite a campaign by Israel’s foreign ministry to have them rejected.The West Bank site, Sebastia, sits on a hilltop near Nablus and is identified by historians as ancient Samaria, capital of the biblical Israel" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="170752" data-entity-type="location">Kingdom of Israel.Its ruins span the Iron Age through Roman, Byzantine and Islamic rule, and Christian and Islamic tradition holds that John the Baptist is buried there.Palestinian officials first sought the listing in 2012, arguing the site needed protection as Israeli authorities pushed ahead with plans to expropriate roughly 200 hectares (500 acres) of surrounding land for a national park.That project would add a fence, entry fees and a road restricted to use by Israelis, bypassing the Palestinian tourism trade built around the ruins.In Lebanon, five fortresses in the Mount Amel region were listed, among them Beaufort Castle, a medieval stronghold captured by Israeli forces in May during their war with Hezbollah.