PARIS/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Palestine became a full member of UNESCO Monday in a highly divisive breakthrough that will cost the agency a fifth of its budget and that the U.S. and other opponents say could harm renewed Mideast peace efforts.Soon after the vote, the United States cut funding to the organization in accordance with a U.S. law that bars funding an organization that has Palestine as a member before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached.
That decision will have an immediate impact: The United States will not make a $60 million payment scheduled for November, according to U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
UNESCO depends heavily on U.S. funding – Washington provides 22 percent of its budget or about $80 million a year – but has survived without it in the past: The United States pulled out of UNESCO under President Ronald Reagan, rejoining two decades later under President George W. Bush.
Huge cheers went up in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization after delegates approved the membership in a vote of 107-14 with 52 abstentions. Eighty-one votes were needed for approval in a hall with 173 UNESCO member delegations present. In a surprise, France voted “yes” – and the room erupted in cheers and applause – while the “no” votes included the United States, Israel, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.
“Long live Palestine!” someone shouted in the hall, in French, at the unusually tense and dramatic meeting of UNESCO’s General Conference.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova welcomed the decision, but said that she worried it could put the agency in a precarious position.
“It is my responsibility to say that I am concerned by the potential challenges that may arise to the universality and financial stability of the organization,” said Bokova, who has led a drive to reform the institution. “I am worried we may confront a situation that could erode UNESCO as a universal platform for dialogue. I am worried for the stability of its budget.”
Before the State Department announcement, White House spokesman Jay Carney called UNESCO’s decision “premature” and said it undermines the international community’s goal of a comprehensive Middle East peace plan. He called it a distraction from the goal of restarting direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Aside from the U.S. funding cut, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it “will consider its further … cooperation with the organization” after Monday’s vote.
Palestinian officials are seeking full membership in the United Nations, but the U.S. has pledged a veto any resolution which would admit Palestine to the U.N. as a state unless there is a peace deal with Israel. Given that, the Palestinians separately sought membership at Paris-based UNESCO. All the efforts are part of a broader push by the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas for greater international recognition in recent years.
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