Attention UNESCO : Jordan was The Last Conqueror to Ruin Jerusalem. Israel liberated and rebuilds its ancient capital

UNESCO’s decision to maintain the Old City of Jerusalem on the List of World Heritage in Danger was published symbolically, with or without prior intention, on July 22 – the eve of Tisha B’Av. The saddest day on the Jewish calendar which marks the destruction of the Holy Temple and the city of Jerusalem twice: The First Temple was burned by the Babylonians in 423 BCE and the Second Temple fell to the Romans in 70 CE.

The report, concerning that decision, was published in the Jordanian media stating that “Jordan welcomes UNESCO’s decision to maintain the Old City of Jerusalem on the List of World Heritage in Danger”. This policy has solidified in recent years, heavily reinforced by the Kingdom’s direct involvement in crafting and safeguarding the resolution. The dynamic endures without intervention, as regional and allied states have failed to counter Jordan and its coalition through proactive, offensive measures rather than passive, defensive reactions.

Background

The latest reaffirmation of the UNESCO decision was adopted on July 21, 2026, during the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee held in South Korea. The resolution was passed with broad consensus and determined that:

  • The status of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls remains “In Danger”.
  • All administrative and legislative measures taken by Israel to alter the character or status of the city (including the “Basic Law: Jerusalem“) are “null and void” and lack any legal validity.
  • In contrast to the one-sided formulations of 2016, the current text re-emphasizes the exceptional religious and cultural importance of the Old City and its walls for the three monotheistic religions.

To illustrate the magnitude of the absurdity within this decision, it is worth noting the additional regional sites that were maintained on or added to the “List of World Heritage in Danger” during this recent UNESCO session, alongside the nations that spearheaded these resolutions. This occurred in the absence of any opposition from Israel, which officially withdrew from the organization in 2019 and is not mentioned by name as the country where these sites are located.

Special emphasis was placed by nations such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan (self-defined as the “Custodian of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem”) and even the Palestinian Authority, on Middle Eastern heritage sites that have been damaged or face immediate threat due to regional conflicts and wars. These include:

  • The Old City of Hebron (the Cave of the Patriarchs), which was kept on the endangered list under the same clauses criticizing Israeli construction, safety and security operations at the site.
  • The Old City of Tyre and the Beaufort Castle, as part of five fortresses in southern Lebanon designated under immediate threat of destruction, most of them due to PLO and Hezbollah terror activities over the past decade.
  • The Monastery of Saint Hilarion (Tell Umm Amer in the Gaza strip) that was endangered due to Hammas and Islamic Jihadists terror activities against Israel.
  • Sebastia (Ancient Samaria), which was fast-tracked for a vote on its inclusion into the List of Heritage in Danger.

Among the countries that supported the resolution, it is worth focusing on the Kingdom of Jordan, if only for the fact that during its 19-year rule as an occupying power in Judea and Samaria, between the Israeli War of Independence and the Six-Day War (1948–1967), it systematically destroyed and neglected the heritage sites in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Old City of Jerusalem in Danger: From Whom?

The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls were first designated as a “World Heritage Site in Danger” by UNESCO in 1982, following an official request submitted by Jordan the previous year. Since then, the World Heritage Committee has renewed and reaffirmed this determination annually during its regular sessions, much to Jordan’s satisfaction. UNESCO justifies its decision to maintain Jerusalem on the endangered list based on several reasons:

  • Destruction of antiquities and unilateral excavations: The organization claims that archaeological excavations conducted by Israel in the vicinity of the Old City, the Old City Basin (such as in the City of David), and beneath the Muslim Quarter jeopardize the structural and historical stability of the sites.
  • Alteration of urban and cultural character: The organization’s resolutions criticize Israel’s development and construction projects both inside and outside the walls, contending that they compromise the original historical and multicultural character of the city.
  • Legal status as occupied territory: Under international law and UNESCO frameworks, “East Jerusalem” is defined as occupied territory. Consequently, any alteration of the status quo, legislation (such as the “Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel”), or administrative action by Israel is deemed “null and void” by the organization.

Since Jordan initiated this course of action within UNESCO, the diplomatic battle on the matter between Israel, the Arab nations, and the Palestinian Authority has remained unceasing. Now, in close proximity to “Tisha B’Av”, it is fitting to remind the Jordanians, the wider Muslim and Arab world, and the entire international community, of one fundamental fact: The Jordanians were the greatest destroyers of Jerusalem in modern times. The Jordanians were the first to destroy significant portions of the Old City of Jerusalem on May 1948, a scale of destruction unseen since the city was razed on “Tisha B’Av” in the year 70 CE under the command of the Roman General, Titus.

During the 19 years of Jordanian occupation and rule in East Jerusalem (1948–1967), the Old City, and particularly the Jewish Quarter, underwent significant and systematic physical and cultural destruction. Immediately following the fall of the Quarter in the War of Independence and the expulsion of all its Jewish residents who survived the battles, a deliberate destruction of surviving Jewish heritage, religious, and historical assets began, aimed at erasing any trace of Jewish presence in the area and any Jewish connection to the site.

The Jordanians intentionally destroyed hundreds of religious and residential buildings in the Jewish Quarter. Abdullah El-Tell, the commander of the Jordanian Arab Legion in 1948, wrote in his memoirs: “The Jewish Quarter has been destroyed. Not a single place remained undamaged or without severe destruction. This has rendered the return of the Jews to this place impossible… Holy Jerusalem has been purified of Jews, and for the first time in over 1,000 years, not a single Jew remains in it”. The Jordanians boasted of making the old city of Jerusalem “Judenrein” in 1948. Sentiments of this nature had been heard only a few years prior from the Nazis on European soil.

Upon the liberation of the city at the end of the Six-Day War, it was discovered that approximately 80% of the homes in the Jewish Quarter had been damaged, blown up, or turned into mounds of ruins and debris during the war and through subsequent proactive initiatives. In accordance with Jordanian policy, more than 50 synagogues and Jewish religious institutions in the Jewish Quarter were looted, desecrated and destroyed. For instance, shortly after the Quarter fell, the Jordanians blew up its most prominent symbols as an expression of their victory: the “Hurva” Synagogue and the “Tiferet Yisrael” Synagogue. Other religious structures that were not entirely destroyed were converted into horse stables, chicken coops, and garbage warehouses.

The ancient cemetery on the Mount of Olives was desecrated—thousands of tombstones were uprooted and defaced, with some used as building materials, paving stones, and for constructing camps for the soldiers of the Jordanian Legion. The Jordanians even paved a road that bisected the cemetery, causing the physical destruction of ancient graves, in order to allow more convenient access to the “Intercontinental” Hotel built at the summit of the Mount of Olives.

The Jordanian occupation turned the Jewish Quarter into a neglected area of ruin. The entire Western Wall area was transformed into a poor, crowded, and neglected residential zone as part of the Mughrabi Quarter. All access to the Western Wall was completely blocked to Jews, in absolute violation of the armistice agreements signed in 1949. Many Jewish homes damaged by shelling during the war were never rehabilitated, and some of the building ruins were used to house Arabs in the “Al-Mu’ascar” refugee camp between 1948-1966, until their relocation to “Shuafat”, north of Jerusalem.

The Jordanian master plan published in 1964 by British architect Henry Kendall, who was appointed by the Jordanian government to plan East Jerusalem, was not intended to rehabilitate the Jewish Quarter and completely ignored its history. Evidence of all this and more was discovered by IDF forces upon the liberation of the Old City during the Six-Day War.

It was not only the Jewish Quarter that suffered severe damage during the Jordanian occupation. However, in contrast to the systematic and deliberate destruction carried out in the Jewish Quarter, the damage inflicted upon the Armenian, Christian, and Muslim Quarters during and after the War of Independence stemmed primarily from the scars of the fierce 1948 battles, severe infrastructural neglect, and a refugee crisis accompanied by economic collapse. Under Jordanian rule, investment in water, sewage, electricity, and road infrastructure, even within the Muslim Quarter, was virtually nonexistent. The Muslim Quarter absorbed thousands of Arab refugees who had lost their homes in and around Jerusalem. These individuals were housed in existing structures, neglected historical buildings, and within the ruins of the Jewish Quarter.

The historical facts regarding the condition of Jerusalem and the neglect of its infrastructure under the Jordanian occupation are well-documented in a variety of academic studies and history books addressing the city’s past. Although Jerusalem was officially designated by the Jordanian Hashemite regime as a “Holy City,” the vast majority of development budgets and economic investments were channelled to Amman to establish it as Jordan’s capital.

Over the years, UN resolutions concerning Jerusalem in particular, spearheaded by the Jordanians with the support of Arab nations and the Palestinian Authority, aimed to sever the historical connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem. This was done to facilitate the growth of the fabricated “Arab-Palestinian” narrative. For example, in a series of resolutions adopted in 2016, the organization utilized terminology that referred to holy sites, including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, solely by their Muslim names: “Al-Haram al-Sharif” and “Al-Buraq,” respectively, while completely omitting their historical Jewish names. Consequently, following this systematic political bias regarding Jerusalem and the designation of the Cave of the Patriarchs as a “Palestinian World Heritage Site in Danger”, Israel officially withdrew from UNESCO in 2019.

Summary and Recommendations

The Kingdom of Jordan, which has for years supported the UNESCO resolution defining the Old City of Jerusalem as a “World Heritage Site in Danger” due to Israel’s actions on the ground, acts with profound hypocrisy, effectively demanding accountability while its own hands are stained with historical destruction.

Israel must aggressively expose the historical reality of the 1948–1967 Jordanian occupation. By dividing Jerusalem and occypying the eastern part of Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, Jordan became the most devastating destroyer of Jerusalem’s heritage in modern history, inflicting damage unseen since the city’s catastrophic fall in 70 CE.

Yosef Tekoa, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in a letter to the UN Secretary-General on August 5, 1968, after the full scope of damage and devastation in the Old City, and the Jewish Quarter in particular, came to light following the Six-Day War: ”It was Jordan which, in defiance of the United Nations Charter, attacked the city in 1948, placed it under siege, and opened indiscriminate fire on its inhabitants and on its historical and religious sites. It was the Jordanian Government which then relentlessly set about destroying the Jewish Quarter, including its synagogues and places of learning and the venerated Cemetery on the Mount of Olives. The inhabitants of the Jewish Quarter were uprooted, transformed overnight into refugees and forcibly prevented from returning to the homes inhabited by themselves and by their ancestors.  It was Jordan which prevented free access to the Jewish Holy Places and the cultural and humanitarian institutions on Mount Scopus, in flagrant violation of its international obligations solemnly undertaken”.

Should the Jordanians deny these claims, the words of the commander of the Jordanian Arab Legion, Abdullah El-Tell, are documented in his memoirs: “The Catastrophe of Palestine”, regarding the destruction of the Jewish Quarter: “The calculated operations of destruction got underway… I proceeded to shell the Quarter with mortars, creating harassment and destruction… Just four days after our entry into Jerusalem, the Jewish Quarter became their cemetery. Death and destruction reigned over it”.

In his letter, Ambassador Tekoa expressed bewilderment: “The interest now shown by the Jordanian government in the Wall is surprising, given the vandalism committed there by this government when it occupied the area”.

Then, as now, Jordan hypocritically continues to complain about the steps taken by the State of Israel, which is restoring past glory. This occurs while Israel invests immense resources into preserving, rehabilitating, and making accessible the holy places and heritage sites in the city – those very sites that Jordan destroyed 77 years ago and throughout its 19-year occupation of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

To this very day, Jordan has issued no public apology for the looting, devastation, and extensive destruction it left behind in Jerusalem and its holy and historical sites; for the desecration of the sanctity of the Western Wall, the synagogues, and the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives; for the absolute blockade of Jewish access to the Western Wall for 19 years, for the first time in approximately 19 centuries; for the attempt to obscure the connection of the Jewish people to their eternal capital; and for the severe damage and losses inflicted upon archaeological artifacts on the Temple Mount and its vicinity, resulting from the excavation of Solomon’s Stables under the responsibility of the Jordanian Waqf (Endowment), among other actions.

In light of the aforementioned, it is fitting to state in every discussion on Jerusalem within international forums, as well as to publish in online platforms and display on explanatory signs throughout the city in various languages, that: ‘Jordan destroyed Jerusalem during its 19-year occupation of the city on a scale unseen since the days of Titus. Israel builds Zion in the spirit of the prophets’ vision, on a scale unparalleled since the days of Herod. Hallelujah!’

In conclusion, we are privileged in our generation to remember our heritage and to witness the embodiment of Isaiah’s vision, as written in Chapter 52: “Awaken, awaken, put on your strength, O Zion; put on the garments of your beauty, Jerusalem the Holy City… Shake yourselves from the dust, arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; free yourself of the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion”.