This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/150529.html
Iran has slammed UN cultural body UNESCO for withdrawing from the Philosophy Day celebration in the country and what it called “the West's scientific apartheid.”
Iran's envoy to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, better known as the UNESCO, protested at the refusal as a breach of the body's commitment to cooperate with Tehran in marking International Day of Philosophy.
Mohammad Reza Majidi said the UNESCO's decision had surfaced during a press conference and had yet to be formally relayed to the body's representative in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
"Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, has decided to disassociate the Organization from the World Philosophy Day event scheduled from 21 to 23 November in the Islamic Republic of Iran," the organization said in a statement on Wednesday.
“As the Secretariat was not fully consulted on all aspects related to this international event, the Director General considers that the conditions necessary to guarantee the effective organization of a UN international conference have not been met,” the statement added.
Majidi said the decision was politically-motivated and that the statement has been “issued under pressure from Zionist lobbies.”
The decision is a dark spot in the records of this organization, he stated.
Gholamreza Khajeh-Sorouri, Iran's deputy Minister of Culture, Research and Technology for cultural and social affairs, also condemned the UNESCO for backing off from plans to help Iran host the event as “the West's apartheid” against the Islamic Republic.
The body's decision arises from the West's fault-finding and political oppositions against Iran, he said, calling on the organizers of the ceremony not to allow the move mar the celebration.
MRS/MB/HRF
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/149796.htmlIsrael suspends co-op with UNESCO
Sat Nov 6, 2010 5:1AM
The Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) is one of the two shrines Israel has added to its heritage list.
Israel has suspended cooperation with a UN body to protest describing of the historic sites in the occupied Palestinian territories as Palestinian.
UNESCO angered Israel in late October by naming the historic sites in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds (Jerusalem) -- sacred to both Muslims and Jews -- as Palestinian.
The board of the UN's cultural organization, in its biannual session on October 21, adopted five proposals initiated by Muslim member states regarding sites which are considered holy to both Muslims and Jews.
Israel, in early 2010, annexed two West Bank holy sites -- the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) and the Bilal Mosque (Rachel's Tomb) to their heritage list.
Palestinians view the additions of the shrines to Israel's heritage list as a land grab.
Referring to the Bilal Mosque in its statement, the UNESCO board voted 44 to one, with 12 abstentions, to reaffirm the site was "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories and that any unilateral action by Israeli authorities is to be considered a violation of international law,” dpa reported late Friday.
"Israel has suspended cooperation with UNESCO," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told parliament, according to a statement from his office late Friday.
Ayalon said ties with UNESCO would remain frozen until it repealed the decision describing the tomb as a mosque, a definition Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as "absurd."
UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova Bokova endorsed a statement by Robert Serry, UN coordinator for the Middle East peace process, that the sites have "historical and religious significance not only to Judaism but also to Islam and to Christianity."
She also "expressed her concern" at the heritage plan and the "resulting escalation of tension in the area."
FTP/MGH/HRF
