UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee named a site in the Gaza Strip — Saint Hilarion Monastery, or Tell Umm Amer — to both its “World Heritage” and “World Heritage In Danger” lists in late July.
The decision, made during the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee held in New Delhi, India, reflects the ancient monastery’s value and need for protection, according to UNESCO.
The Committee inscribed the monastery — one of the oldest sites in the Middle East, according to UNESCO — to both lists using an emergency procedure set forth in the World Heritage Convention. The procedure allows for accelerated inscriptions for sites that are under threat.
“The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, which could pose a threat to this archaeological site, is a situation in which this procedure is possible,” a UNESCO spokesperson told CNBC Travel.
The Saint Hilarion Monastery/Tell Umm Amer was home to the first monastic community in the Holy Land and “was a centre for religious, cultural and economic exchanges” during the Byzantine period, according to UNESCO.
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To date, UNESCO said it has not identified any damage to the site, which it is monitoring remotely using satellite imagery.
What this means
As a result of the inscriptions, UNESCO’s 196 “State Parties” — or countries that ratified the World Heritage Convention adopted by UNESCO in 1972 — must avoid directly or indirectly damaging the site and assist in protecting it, UNESCO said.
Israel is no longer a member of UNESCO, but it is a State Party, which means it is bound by the terms of the Convention to protect and not damage the monastery, UNESCO told CNBC Travel.
Along with the United States, Israel left UNESCO on Dec. 31, 2018, amid allegations of anti-Israeli bias at the U.N. agency which crescendoed after the organization accepted “the State of Palestine” as a member in 2011.
Under the Biden administration, the United States formally rejoined UNESCO in July 2023.
Israel has not rejoined UNESCO, though it has sent delegations to the World Heritage Committee’s annual meetings to serve as non-voting observers, including a much-heralded appearance at the 2023 meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Use of the emergency procedure
Simultaneous inscriptions to UNESCO’s World Heritage and its “In Danger” lists are rather common, a UNESCO spokesperson told CNBC.
Recent examples include Ukraine’s historic center of the port city of Odesa and the archaeological sites of Yemen’s ancient kingdom of Saba, both inscribed in January 2023.
Use of UNESCO’s emergency procedure fast-tracked Saint Hilarion Monastery/Tell Umm Amer’s inclusion onto its World Heritage Lists, a procedure which normally takes at least two years.
Mohammed Abed | Afp | Getty Images
There are currently 1,123 sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, but just 56 on its “In Danger” list, which identifies sites that are under threat of war, natural disasters, pollution, overtourism or other problems.
Sites on the “In Danger” list can also receive technical and financial assistance for protection and restoration work.
Requests to use the emergency procedure for simultaneous inscriptions must come from a State Party, the UNESCO spokesperson said.
Workers renovate a mosaic at the Saint Hilarion Monastery/Tell Umm Amer, a site which dates to 329 AD and consists of two churches, a burial site, a baptism hall, a public cemetery, an audience hall and dining rooms.
Mohammed Abed | Afp | Getty Images
“Palestine first included the site on its Tentative List in 2012,” the spokesperson said, referencing a list of sites that countries intend to nominate as World Heritage Sites in the future. “In June 2024, [it] submitted the nomination of ‘Saint Hilarion Monastery/Tell Umm Amer’ with the request to process it on an emergency basis.”
The inscription was decided by consensus among the Committee members, according to the spokesperson.
The 46th session of the World Heritage Committee ended Wednesday with 26 new sites inscribed to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and the small Micronesian island of Nauru becoming its 196th State Party.