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Palestine Unesco Member

October 31, 2011 by · Comments Off on Palestine Unesco Member 

Palestine Unesco Member, Palestine became a full member of UNESCO on Monday in a divisive breakthrough could cost the agency a fifth of its budget and that the opposition to the U.S. and others say it could damage the renewed efforts for peace in the Middle East.

Lawmakers in the U.S., providing about 22 percent of the financing of UNESCO, had threatened to end some and 80 million in annual funding to Palestine if membership was approved. It was not clear in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s vote that the threat has become reality.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the decision of UNESCO “premature” and said it undermined the international community’s goal of a comprehensive peace plan in the Middle East. He called it a distraction from the goal of the resumption of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Monday’s vote is a great symbolic victory for the Palestinians, but it alone will not make Palestine a state. The question of the borders of an eventual Palestinian state, security issues and other disputes that have frustrated peace in the Middle East for decades remain unresolved.

Applause rose huge United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization after the delegates approved the membership by a vote of 107-14 with 52 abstentions. Eighty-one votes needed for approval in a room with 173 delegations present members of UNESCO.

“Long live Palestine,” shouted one of the delegates, in French, in the unusually tense and dramatic meeting of the General Conference of UNESCO.

Even if the impact of the vote will not be felt immediately in the Middle East, quickly became UNESCO. Besides the threat to cut off U.S. funding, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel said that “consider the most … cooperation with the organization” after Monday’s vote.

The UN agency protects heritage sites and works to improve literacy in the world, access to schooling for girls and cultural understanding, but also has been criticized in the past as a forum for anti-Israel sentiment.

Depends heavily on U.S. funding, but has survived without him in the past: The United States withdrew from UNESCO under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, two decades later to meet with President George W. Bush.

Palestinian officials are seeking full membership in the UN, but that effort is still under review and the U.S. has pledged a veto unless a peace agreement with Israel. Given that, the Palestinians asked a member of the Paris-based UNESCO. All efforts are part of a broader effort by the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas for greater international recognition in recent years.

“Joy fills my heart. This is truly a historic moment,” said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki. “We hope that today’s victory marks of UNESCO but a beginning. Our admission to UNESCO is not an option, not a substitute for something else.”

UNESCO, like other UN agencies, is part of the world body, but members have different procedures and can make their own decisions about which countries belong. UN full member is not required for membership of many UN agencies.

Monday’s vote is final, and officially enters into force when the charter of UNESCO signs of Palestine.

French Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman, said before the vote that if passed, Israel must cut ties with the Palestinian Authority. It was unclear whether he was expressing a personal opinion or government policy. Have a history of embarrassing comments to the Prime Minister.

The U.S. ambassador to UNESCO, David Killion, said Monday’s vote was “complicated” U.S. efforts to support the agency. The United States voted against the measure.

The current U.S. legislation Washington may prohibit funding any UN organization that accepts members who do not have the “internationally recognized attributes of the state.” This requirement is interpreted in the sense of belonging to the UN.

Ghassan Khatib, Palestinian government spokesman in the West Bank, urged the U.S. to maintain funding from UNESCO.

He called it “a vote of confidence from the international community.”

“We look at this vote as particularly important because part of our battle against the Israeli occupation is the occupation of the attempts to erase the history of Palestine and Judaizing it. UNESCO’s vote will help us maintain traditional Palestinian heritage,” said .

Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, called the vote a tragedy. “They have forced a drastic reduction of contributions to the organization,” he said.

“Offers of UNESCO on science, not science fiction,” he said. “They forced UNESCO a political subject of their competence.”

Also Monday, a presidential aide said that Bosnia Bosnia will be forced to abstain from voting at the UN of a Palestinian state – dealing a blow to Palestinian hopes of rallying the necessary nine votes in a majority of Council vote Security of the UN in New York. Palestinian officials have said they already have eight votes, and count heavily on Bosnia to give the ninth.

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