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UNESCO adds Gaza-linked sites
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, meeting in Busan, South Korea, decided to inscribe six sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger, including three under an emergency procedure: Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape in South Sudan, Mount Amel Castles in Lebanon, and Sebastia in the State of Palestine.
“Facing major threats, to echo UNESCO's words, six new sites join the World Heritage in Danger List”
The committee said the emergency procedures were necessary due to "numerous crises of diverse nature, including armed conflict and climate change, that are heavily affecting heritage and exposing it to serious threats," and it also added three other sites already recognized by UNESCO to the danger list.
For Sebastia, UNESCO said the main threat concerned the planned expropriation and creation of the "Samaria" (Shomron) national park, which could divide the property.
UNESCO’s press release also described Sebastia as preserving the archaeological record of successive occupation from at least the 9th century BCE through multiple periods, including the Crusader era and the Ayyubid/Mamluk and Ottoman periods.
Israel objects; Palestinians hope
Palestinian officials welcomed UNESCO’s decision to add Sebastia in the occupied West Bank to both the World Heritage list and its list of World Heritage in danger, while Israel denounced the decision and described it as political.
Nizar Kayed, deputy mayor of Sebastia, told Reuters that the UNESCO listing came after an Israeli confiscation order, saying, "This decision came after the confiscation order issued by the Israeli occupation authorities, which destroys this area from a cultural and historical standpoint and also destroys people’s livelihoods."
UNESCO’s press release said the threat to Sebastia also included pressures related to development, land-use planning, governance and the erosion of the remains.
In the same UNESCO coverage, the committee said it welcomed the partnership between UNESCO and UNITAR/UNOSAT for regular monitoring of Tauric Chersonese in Crimea using satellite images, and it cited observed deterioration in authenticity and integrity.
What’s at stake next
UNESCO said the conditions necessary to ensure the conservation and protection of Tyre’s Outstanding Universal Value are no longer met, and it expressed deep concern over ongoing hostilities in Lebanon.
“Palestinian officials have welcomed UNESCO’s decision to add Sebastia in the occupied West Bank to both the World Heritage list and its list of World Heritage in danger in the hope that it will prevent Israel from extending its control over the Palestinian village and its archaeological site”
The World Heritage Committee also warned that Mount Amel Castles in Lebanon, which it said had already been granted enhanced protection in November 2024, is currently suffering heavy damage and requires urgent intervention.
For Sebastia, UNESCO said the planned expropriation and national park could divide the property, while also noting pressures related to development, land-use planning, governance and the erosion of the remains.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee concluded that these sites face threats of such gravity that immediate intervention has become indispensable, and it said it invoked an emergency procedure for the three particularly vulnerable sites.
