UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said that the UN body will work "to fight intolerance and contemporary forms of anti-Semitism, including those which seek to delegitimize the State of Israel," in resonse to a letter from former Israeli Foreign Minister and leader of the Hatnuah Party Leader, Tzipi Livni.

Israel has announced that it was suspending its cooperation with UNESCO after the executive board of the UN organisation for education and culture adopted a controversial resolution which denies any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

In her letter, Livni warned that the vote of such a resolution was likely to incite religious conflict and undermine the sensitive status quo in Jerusalem.

Bokova's letter begins by emphasizing that "such decisions are discussed and taken by the Member States and not by" the Director-General herself. She added that, as such, she transferred Livni's letter to Michael Worbs, the chairperson of the executive board.

Bokova repeated her former statements that "the Old City of Jerusalem is the sacred city of the three monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and that Jewish (sic), Christians and Muslims have a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city."

Bukova also said : "I firmly believe that to deny or conceal any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site."

“The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city,” Bokova said.

Bokova noted that the “cultural and spiritual traditions” of all faiths in Jerusalem “build on texts and references, known by all, that are an intrinsic part of the identities and history of peoples.

“To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list,” she said.

Bokova pointed out some of the Israeli sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage list and some of the organization's projects that "attest to our commitment to Jewish culture and bear witness to our knowledge and respect for the ties between the Jewish People and the Holy Land, including Jerusalem."

She added that her organisation ‘’is the only UN agency with a dedicated programme on Holocaust education.’’

The resolution adopted last week denies the links of two important holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City to Judaism. The text refers to the site known by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount only by its Muslim name. The text refers to the Muslim site of Al-Buraq Plaza without quotations, but puts the site’s Jewish name, the Western Wall Plaza, in inverted commas.

The resolution, initated by the Palestinians and tabled by Arab countries, was adopted by 24 votes against six, the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia. 24 countries abstained including France, Italy and Spain.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon distances from the UNESCO resolution.

"The Secretary-General reaffirms the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions and stresses the importance of the religious and historical link of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian peoples to the holy site," said a statement read by the UN Spokesperson on behalf of Ban.

"The Al Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit—or Temple Mount—whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism, a few steps away from the Saint Sepulcher church and the Mount of Olives, which is revered by Christians," Ban added.

He noted that "any perceived undertaking to repudiate the undeniable common reference for these sites does not serve the interests of peace and will only feed violence and radicalism" and called on all sides "to uphold the status quo in relation to the holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem."