“A holy city for three different religions, it attracts millions of tourist with over 200 monuments, including the majestic Dome of the Rock. But political tension has hardened relations between Israel and UNESCO, preventing any preservation plans from moving forward.”
UNESCO placed the Old City of Jerusalem on its list of World Heritage Sites in Danger since 1982 - at Jordan's request.
Clearly no one from UNESCO compared what the Old City looked like in 1967, after 19 years of neglect by Jordan, and what it looked like in 1982 when it was rebuilt. No one compared the slums of what had been the Jewish Quarter with how it looked when it was rebuilt.
And no one from CNN bothered to look at Jerusalem today to see exactly who was endangering the Old City.
Because the people who have shown the most blatant disregard for the Old City's cultural value has been the Waqf, the Muslims who run the Temple Mount. They have dug out and destroyed thousands of cubic meters of land holding priceless archaeological treasures with not a word of protest from UNESCO.
No, the Old City is not in danger as long as Jews control it. On the contrary - it is far better in every sense. The Old City is more beautiful by far. It is more secure by far. It is more open to members of all religions. Many more fascinating archaeological treasures have been discovered and scrupulously preserved. It is a living, breathing part of the city and not the backwater relic that Jordan considered it.
But to UNESCO, and clueless CNN reporters, the Jews are the problem, and Jerusalem was better off as a squalid and ignored Jew-free Jordanian town than it is today as the reborn capital of the world's Jews.