Dubai: Israel's move to claim two West Bank shrines as its own heritage sites is simply a tactic to further stall peace efforts, according to Palestinian officials.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said the decision was part of "a deliberate poisoning of the atmosphere by an extreme right-wing government that does not want peace or serious negotiations."
Meanwhile, feelings have been inflamed as Palestinians took to the streets for the third day yesterday to protest the move.
The Palestinian National Authority has called for a rally in Bethlehem tomorrow, as businesses, schools and universities observed yesterday the second day of a three-day strike.
Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Al Ebrahimi Mosque in Hebron would be included in an Israeli-funded $107 million (Dh392.6 million) restoration plan. In an effort to calm tempers, Israeli President Shimon Peres said that the sites would be refurbished but the status quo would not be altered.
"These sites are in occupied Palestinian territory and are of historical and religious significance not only to Judaism, but also to Islam and to Christianity," Robert Serry, the UN's special coordinator in the Middle East, told Peres in a meeting.
Hamas leader Esmail Haniya Tuesday called for a third Palestinian intifada (uprising) against Israel.
