UPDATE - UNESCO adopts resolution calling Jerusalem ‘occupied’

UPDATES WITH ISRAELI AND HAMAS REACTION TO UNESCO RESOLUTION

JERUSALEM (AA) - The executive board of the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Tuesday passed a resolution describing Jerusalem as “occupied” and challenging Israeli sovereignty over the city.

UNESCO adopted the resolution with 22 member states voting in favor, 10 voting against and 23 abstaining.

The resolution states that Jerusalem’s Old City is “entirely Palestinian” and stresses its historical “Muslim and Christian” heritage.

The decision also describes Israel as an “occupying power” that has no sovereignty over the city.

What’s more, the resolution affirms the Islamic character of the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Hebron (Al-Khalil) and Rachel’s Tomb in the city Bethlehem.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the resolution as "nonsense".

In a written statement released from his office late Tuesday, Netanyahu said the turnout was low and that the number of votes in favor was lower than the abstaining votes.

However, he added, his country would continue "to make an effort to minimize the number of countries which support such decisions in UN".

Earlier Tuesday, in anticipation of the resolution’s adoption, Netanyahu declared: "We [Israel] do not believe in UNESCO.

“There is no other people in the world for whom Jerusalem is as holy and important as for the Jewish people,” he added.

Abdulatif al-Qanou, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, welcomed the UNESCO resolution.

Qanou told Anadolu Agency the resolution refuted Israeli claims on Jerusalem and Palestinian land.

Citing ongoing Israeli settlement expansion in East Jerusalem, Qanou called on Islamic world and the international community to adopt the resolution and to put it into practice.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It unilaterally annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as its “eternal and undivided” capital in a move never recognized by the international community.