Israel says Saudi Arabia to allow it to attend Riyadh UNESCO event

Saudi Arabia has agreed to host all the signatory countries on the World Heritage Convention, including Israel, at a UNESCO conference set to take place in Riyadh in September, an Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor. The issue came up at a meeting on Wednesday in Paris between UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with UNESCO over hosting the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee. The agreement includes, as always in such cases, a commitment by the hosting country to welcome all stakeholders, and in particular all delegations from the states that are parties to the World Heritage Convention, a UNESCO diplomat told Al-Monitor.

If Saudi Arabia follows up on its commitment, it will be the first time official Israeli representatives will publicly participate in an event in Riyadh.

Until last Tuesday, the Saudis gave no sign they were willing to offer representatives of the Israeli Foreign Ministry entry visas for the UNESCO event and even ignored some discreet Israeli inquiries on the issue. 

Israel left UNESCO six years ago, following the withdrawal of the United States from the organization. At the time, the Trump administration said it had decided to quit UNESCO over an alleged bias against Israel. While leaving the organization, Israel did not withdraw from its 1999 membership of the World Heritage Convention. Thus, it maintains contact and cooperates with UNESCO, even if it is no longer a member of the organization. 

The UNESCO diplomat also said that the meeting between Azoulay and Cohen took place at the request of the Israeli side. Cohen, it was said, expressed his gratitude for the work undertaken by Azoulay for battling antisemitism. He also brought up the issue of Israel’s return to the organization.

The United States and Israel had announced their decision to withdraw shortly before the appointment of Azoulay as director general. Since her appointment in November 2017, she had labored relentlessly to de-politicize UNESCO. 

For instance, before her appointment, the organization used to adopt annual decisions recognizing Muslim and Palestinian affiliations to heritage sites, especially in Jerusalem, but not Jewish affiliation. Azoulay managed to convince the parties to agree on less-politicized resolutions, to be accepted by consensus. Before Azoulay, and especially since Palestine was accepted as member state in 2011, resolutions critical of Israel would be adopted at least once a year. Azoulay convinced the Jordanians, Palestinians and other parties to negotiate the wording of such texts. While Israel was no longer member, Azoulay included Israeli representatives in these negotiations to ensure the texts would not be perceived as anti-Israeli.

The efforts by Azoulay were recognized by the United States, which announced earlier this month its intention to rejoin the organization. First Lady Jill Biden is set to meet with Azoulay in Paris on July 25 and participate in the ceremony marking the return of the United States to UNESCO.

That being said, Israel’s government has not taken any decision yet on whether or not it will return to UNESCO. The meeting of Cohen with Azoulay and the fact that the issue of return was discussed is the first sign that such a move is being considered by Israel's government. 

At the meeting, Cohen also brought up the issue of protecting Jewish heritage sites in the West Bank, following a recent decision by the Israeli government to do so. Far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have expressed on more than one occasion their rejection of UNESCO, which they still consider as biased against Israel. Cohen could now plead for a return to the organization, citing the protection of West Bank Jewish heritage sites as motivation for such a move.