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The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a Unesco Heritage site as early as 2012? This is the hope of the Palestinian population since, on 31st October, Palestine has become a full member of Unesco, the UN agency for Culture, Science and Education. Palestinians will actually be in a position to ratify the 1972 world heritage convention, which will enable them to ask that some of their sites be included in Unesco heritage sites. However, as reported to SIR today by the Custodian of the Holy Land, father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, “The Custody, the Greek Patriarchate and the Armenian Patriarchate, which run the basilica of the Nativity, express doubts about such application to Unesco”. “We don’t have any problem with proclaiming the city of Bethlehem as a Unesco Heritage site – the Custodian states –. We are not too enthusiastic about the Nativity, instead. It is an initiative that makes it harder for us to run it, because, under Unesco rules, the board in charge of running a place for the UN agency is the Governmentm not the owner of a site. As a Custody, as the Greek Patriarchate and as the Armenian Patriarchate, we have asked the National Palestinian Authority to apply for the city only and leave out the basilica, which might be included later on, when the situation, including the political situation, will be quieter”.
Father Pizzaballa fears that “the holy places might be used for political reasons”, not least because of the recent application made by president Abu Mazen to the UN for acknowledgement of the Palestinian state. “Right now, we do not want to become, on, one hand, the keepers of places run by governments and, on the other hand, to be exploited for issues in which the holy places must not be involved”. The Palestinian Authority, as reported by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, had already formally presented, in February, the nomination of Bethlehem, Christ’s birthplace, as a World Heritage site. But, because of problems with its status, such application had been rejected. The application will be reviewed again in Saint Petersburg in June 2012, and the final decision will be taken one month later. The title of the file submitted by Palestinians for Bethlehem as a World Heritage Site is significant: "Jesus’ birthplace: the Church of the Nativity and the pilgrims’ way". Bethlehem is the main tourist site in the Palestinian Territories. The city hosted a record-breaking crowd of pilgrims last Christmas, and in 2010 it received about 1.5 million visitors. The goal for 2011 is to exceed two million.

© www.agensir.it - november 4th 2011