CSM: UNESCO designates Church of the Nativity as endangered site... "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads a self-rule government in charge of 38 percent of the West Bank, says negotiations with Israel remain his preferred choice, but wants global recognition to improve his leverage [for negotiations]."

A nun walks outside the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem June 28.

Ammar Awad/REUTERS

Palestinian leaders consider the designation a political victory.

By Dalia Nammari and Karin Laub, Associated Press / June 29, 2012 

Bethlehem, West Bank

The Palestinians on Friday persuaded the U.N. cultural agency to list the Church of the Nativity — the place where Christians believe Jesus was born — as an endangered World Heritage site despite misgivings by churches in charge of the basilica.

The Palestinians hailed the nod by UNESCO as a step forward in their quest for global recognition of an independent Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967.
The centuries-old basilica is located in a part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank where the Palestinians have self-rule. UNESCO's decision was seen by them as validation of their rights to the territory.

IN PICTURES: Unsettled: Jewish settlements in the West Bank

"We are ecstatic," Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi said of Friday's 13-6 by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Palestinians had argued that the shrine faces imminent danger, both because of overdue repairs and Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank....READ MORE

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0629/UNESCO-designates-Church-of-the-Nativity-as-endangered-site