UNESCO decided this Friday to declare the archaeological site of Sebastia, located in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, a World Heritage Site, while simultaneously placing it on its list of sites in danger through an emergency procedure due to the threat of expropriation by Israel.

The decision was adopted following a lengthy debate on procedural rules after the Czech Republic, opposing Sebastia's inclusion on the World Heritage List, requested a vote that ultimately did not take place due to opposition from other member nations.

"It is a historic moment for Sebastia, for Palestine, and for the World Heritage Convention," said the representative of the Palestinian delegation following the decision from the South Korean city of Busan, where the World Heritage Committee session is taking place.

The representative, wearing a Palestinian flag around his neck, emphasized that local residents have protected the site "for generations, despite the restrictions of the occupation and repeated attempts to sever them from their own heritage."

Meanwhile, the representative of the Israeli delegation criticized the ruling, stating that "the eternal connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel will not be broken by any UNESCO resolution."

Israel has initiated a process to expropriate approximately 180 hectares of the acropolis and surrounding lands, where it intends to establish the so-called Samaria National Park, aimed at Israeli tourism within occupied territory. The project is backed by funding exceeding 9 million euros (alongside an additional 46 million euros designated for archaeology across the West Bank).

Sebastia is an archaeological site whose origins date back to the 8th and 9th centuries BCE, when it served as Samaria, the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Israel (a name currently used by Israeli nationalists to refer to the northern occupied West Bank).

Artifacts from the Hellenistic period were also discovered at the site, and during the Roman era, King Herod I promoted its expansion and renamed it Sebaste. In the 11th century CE, Crusaders erected a cathedral over a former Byzantine basilica (believed to house the remains of John the Baptist).

Following the Islamic conquest, a mosque was built on the site in honor of the prophet Yahya (the Arabic name for John the Baptist). Sebastia eventually became part of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, along with the rest of Palestine.

The town of Sebastia, where the site is located, is partitioned under the administrative divisions established by the Oslo II Accords between Israel and Palestine in 1995, which split the area into three zones: Area A (under Palestinian military and administrative control), Area B (under Palestinian administrative control and Israeli military control), and Area C (under full Israeli military and administrative control).

In May 2025, Israel's Ministry of Heritage began excavating the site through an agency of the Civil Administration—the military body managing the West Bank as occupied territory—without coordination or consent from Palestinian authorities.

By late 2025, the Civil Administration informed the Sebastia Municipal Council of its intention to expropriate the site's entire acropolis and surrounding privately owned lands, subsequently issuing a new expropriation order in February of this year while dismissing local appeals.

For his part, the mayor of the municipality of Sebastia, Mohamed Azim, affirmed on Friday that he will demand international action against Israel as an "occupying power" following UNESCO's designation.

"It will be demanded that the occupying power (Israel) be punished, that it cease its control over the (archaeological) site, and that the international community provide the necessary funds for its protection and development," Azim told EFE by telephone following the UN agency's announcement.

Additionally, UNESCO decided to directly enroll the castles of Mount Amel in southern Lebanon on the List of World Heritage in Danger, following Israeli bombardments tied to its conflict with Hezbollah amid the broader war in the Middle East.

"This decision recognizes the outstanding universal value of a property that includes five historic castles (...) They stand as a testament to more than five thousand years of political and military history," celebrated the Lebanese delegation from Busan, South Korea, where the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee runs through July 29th.