UNESCO's Executive Committee on Thursday voted for the resolution, which acknowledged Jerusalem to be a holy city for Muslims, Christians and Jewish people, but named the Temple Mount, where the Al-Asqa mosque is located, a Muslim holy site. Following the resolution, Israel decided to halt cooperation with the UN agency.
"The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have found a way to bypass the decision of UNESCO, according to which this mosque was declared a cultural heritage site of Muslims. He will carry out excavations at the mosque, and later, when the mosque collapses, he will declare it an accident, the consequences of which will be irreversible," the expert wrote.
According to Abshenass, if the Israelis continue their policy towards Muslims and don't change their attitude, "then the level of terrorist activity in the world could increase."
The expert noted that one of the causes of the Palestinian intifada were "attacks" on Al-Aqsa Mosque. Thus Israel's actions may again cause "attempts of retaliation" on the side of Muslims, he argued.
The resolution, which was put forward by Palestine along with Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, was approved by 24 members of the 58-member organization, including Russia. Twenty-six countries abstained from voting, while only six countries voted against it.
