Decision 28 COM 15A.31

Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls (Jerusalem (Site proposed by Jordan))

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Takes note with satisfaction of the continuing effort of the Director-General in pursuing a comprehensive initiative for the safeguarding of the cultural heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem, particularly with the setting up of highly qualified and purely technical missions and in line with the General Conference Resolution 32 C/Res 39 (October 2003) which referred to the relevant United Nations resolutions and decisions in particular the relevant Security Council Resolutions on the legal status of Jerusalem;

2. Expresses its concern for the threats to the cultural heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem, including the progressive alteration of its historic urban fabric and visual integrity, the lack of maintenance and inappropriate conservation approaches to some of its historic monuments, due to the difficulties posed by the present situation;

3. Urges the responsible authorities to establish in close consultation and cooperation with, and with the prior approval of all the concerned stakeholders, appropriate regulations, sensitive to the historic character of the Old City, for all rehabilitation and conservation activities within the Old City and to ensure its safeguarding;

4. Further urges the responsible authorities to facilitate the normal progress of rehabilitation and conservation works within the Old City, by allowing the free access of labourers and conservation materials to the property;

5. Encourages the concerned parties to take into account, when undertaking conservation activities, the principles and recommendations of the relevant international Charters, particularly with regard to the need to preserve the authenticity and integrity of the property and requests the concerned parties toensure that international principles be applied with regard to interventions to the subsurface deposits in the Old City;

6. Encourages the Director-General to pursue his initiative for the safeguarding of the cultural heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem in the spirit of the General Conference Resolution 32C/Res 39 (October 2003) related to the establishment of guidelines for an Action Plan and proposals for its implementation;

7. Decides to retain the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger.