UNESCO adds West Bank site and Lebanese castles to World Heritage List despite Israeli objections

Sebastia, a hilltop town about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is identified by scholars as ancient Samaria, capital of the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The area’s archaeological remains span the Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods. Christian and Islamic tradition holds that John the Baptist was buried there, according to a UNESCO website.

Sebastia’s nomination, first submitted by the Palestinian delegation to UNESCO in 2012, argued that World Heritage status was needed to help preserve the site, saying it remains largely undeveloped under Israeli control and requires additional conservation despite attracting tourists.

The designation comes as Israel, which does not recognize a Palestinian state, moves to expropriate large swaths of land around the site, even as it faces pressure to crack down on violence by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territory.

The five castles in the Mount Amel region are recognized for their layered architectural heritage, combining Crusader, Ayyubid, Mamluk and local influences, reflecting the evolution of fortified architecture over nearly nine centuries, according to UNESCO. The designated sites include the Crusader-built Beaufort Castle, also known as Al-Shaqif, which Israeli forces seized in May during their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than a quarter-century.

Adel Naim Daoud Atieh, a member of the Palestinian delegation to UNESCO, said the World Heritage designation rewards the perseverance of Sebastia’s residents, “who have protected this extraordinary site through generations, despite occupation, restrictions, and repeated attempts to separate them from their own heritage.”

Israel withdrew from UNESCO in 2019, accusing the organization of being biased against it and of downplaying its historical ties to the Holy Land. A member of the Israeli delegation, which is attending the Busan meetings as observers, said it was a “shame politicization has ruined UNESCO and led to mockery of history.”

In Tuesday’s statement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused the Palestinian delegation of waging a “hostile, one-sided campaign” at UNESCO by falsely portraying Sebastia as an area facing an emergency, calling the effort a political attempt to “erase the site’s profound, well-documented Jewish and Christian history.”

The ministry also objected to listing Beaufort Castle as a World Heritage Site as part of the nomination covering the five castles in the Mount Amel area.

The ministry said Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, has turned the castle into a military stronghold by building tunnels beneath the site and launching rockets from the area, and accused UNESCO of ignoring those developments.

Asked about the Israeli claims, UNESCO said in a statement to The Associated Press that all nominations are evaluated under the same criteria, procedures and technical requirements, and that it does not take positions on political disputes. The Lebanese Embassy in South Korea declined to comment on Israel’s statement, but a Lebanese delegate at Friday’s meeting said the castles had been used “only for cultural and tourism purposes” since Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 and accused Israeli media of portraying tourist facilities as military tunnels.

The UNESCO committee on Wednesday placed another Lebanese site, Tyre, an ancient Phoenician city in the southern part of the country, on the list of world heritage sites in danger. Tyre, Lebanon’s fourth-largest city, came under intense Israeli airstrikes in early June during Israel’s war with Hezbollah, before a ceasefire took effect later that month.