PARIS - The United States said Friday it was profoundly disappointed by UNESCO’s granting of world heritage status to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem following a Palestinian request. “The US is profoundly disappointed by the decision,” Washington’s mission to UNESCO headquarters in Paris said. “The site is sacred to all Christians; it clearly has tremendous religious and historical significance. However, the emergency procedure used in this instance is reserved only for extreme cases, specifically when a site is under imminent threat of destruction,” it said. “In the 40 years of the World Heritage Convention’s existence, the emergency procedure has been used only four times and only in the most extreme cases, and always consistent with the recommendation of the advisory bodies.”This body should not be politicised.”UNESCO, the United Nations cultural body, overrode Israeli objections in a vote in Saint Petersburg on Friday to urgently grant world heritage status to the church worshipped as the birthplace of Jesus and its pilgrimage route.The bid, the first since the Palestinians won controversial membership in UNESCO in October 2011, was submitted “on an emergency basis” because the Palestinians say urgent restoration work is needed.Their membership has cost the body tens of millions of dollars in lost funding from the United States, Israel’s staunchest ally.Israel said the “emergency basis” status essentially meant that the United Nations as a world body was backing the Palestinian view that the church was threatened by the Jewish state’s troops.