Palestinians won entry to Unesco yesterday, scoring a symbolic victory in their battle for full membership of the UN in a move that Israel and the US said harmed hopes for peace.
“The general conference decides to admit Palestine as a member of Unesco,” said the resolution that was adopted to loud applause by 107 countries, including Malta, with 14 voting against and 52 abstaining.
“Accepting Palestine into Unesco is a victory for (our) rights, for justice and for freedom,” Mahmud Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina quoted the Palestinian President as saying.
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki, who was at the UN cultural body’s Paris headquarters for the vote, hailed “a historic moment that gives Palestine back some of its rights,” while Israel said it distanced peace.
“This is a unilateral Palestinian manoeuvre which will bring no change on the ground but further removes the possibility for a peace agreement,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.
But Mr Malki insisted there was no connection between the Unesco move and the possible resumption of peace negotiations, stalled by Israel’s ongoing construction of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.
“I don’t think that our status at Unesco will have a negative impact on relaunching peace talks,” Malki said. “There is no link between the two issues.”
France, which had voiced serious doubts about the motion, in the end approved it along with almost all Arab, African, Latin American and Asian nations, including China and India.
Israel, the US, Canada, Australia and Germany voted against, while Japan and Britain abstained.
The US and Israel are set now to withdraw their funding from the UN cultural body, while other UN agencies may have to debate the thorny issue.
Washington has slammed the move as counterproductive and premature.
Staunch Israel ally, the US, in the 1990s banned the financing of any UN organisation that accepts Palestine as a full member, meaning the body would lose $70 million (€50 million), or 22 per cent of its annual budget.
US ambassador to Unesco David Killion said after the vote that “this action today will complicate our ability to support Unesco programmes.”
Malta votes in favour
Malta was one of 107 countries that voted in favour of the admission of Palestine to Unesco.
The island was represented by non-resident Ambassador to Unesco Ray Bondin who explained that Malta wanted secure borders for Israel but at the same time recognised the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians to their own state.
Ten other EU member states voted in favour: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain, while most of the others abstained, the Foreign Ministry said.