Republican House leaders have accused Arab nations at the United Nations of fanning the flames of violence in Israel by sponsoring a recent resolution describing the Jewish state as "occupied Palestine" and blaming it for a spike in Palestinian terrorism, according to copies of several letters sent to these nations and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Four leaders of the House Republican Israel Caucus petitioned the U.N. ambassadors of six Arab countries—Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—that recently pushed a U.N. resolution blaming Israeli security measures for a recent spike in Palestinian violence and accusing it of occupying "Palestine."
The U.N. resolution initially attempted to reclassify the Western Wall, also known as the Kotel, as part of the Al Aqsa mosque, a move that sparked outrage in the pro-Israel community. However, the U.N.’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) dropped this part of the measure before approval.
Palestinian terrorists have gone on a violent spree in recent weeks, wounding dozens of Israelis and killing others.
"We are greatly disturbed by the "Occupied Palestine" resolution submitted by your government and adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)," the lawmakers write in a letter to each of the Arab nations that backed the measure.
The letters are signed by Reps. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.), Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), Doug Lamborn (R., Colo.), and Leonard Lance (R., N.J.).
"This resolution, which wrongly condemns Israel of violating the status quo of the Temple Mount, falsely accuses Israel’s security measures against terrorism as illegal aggression, and asserts false Palestinian claims to historical Jewish sites, forces us to question your commitment to halting the recent violence within Israel and the West Bank and achieving a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," it states.
The Palestinians are exploiting UNESCO in order to erase the historic Jewish connection to the land of Israel, the lawmakers write.
"This Palestinian-drafted resolution egregiously reconstructs thousands of years of Jewish history and attempts to remove Jewish connection from the holiest of Jewish sites, including Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs," they write.
The lawmakers go on to express concern that such moves could exacerbate violence.
"These inaccurate depictions of Jewish sites will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and incite further violence," the letter states. "We condemn these insidious actions and urge you to take steps which will relieve tensions in Jerusalem, including actions to discourage Palestinians from using the Al Aqsa Mosque as a base for violent uprisings against Israelis."
The lawmakers "condemn this resolution" and urge the Arab nations to "take steps to quell Palestinian terrorism" and foster peace in the region.
A draft copy of the original UNESCO measure that was viewed by the Free Beacon condemns Israel and accuses it of being an occupying force.
Israel is called an occupier of "the Capital of Palestine," meaning Jerusalem, where both the Western Wall and Al Aqsa mosque stand.
The measure also "decries the recent repression in East Jerusalem, the occupied Capital of Palestine, by the Israeli army" and accuses Israel of sparking violence through its policies to combat terrorism.
It goes on to "firmly [deplore] the continued storming of Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif [also known as the Temple Mount] by the Israeli right wing extremists and urges Israel, the Occupying Power, to take necessary measures to prevent provocative abuses that violate the sanctity" of the area, according to the draft text.
The original draft was described as "anti-Semitic" in nature by Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.).