Palestine became a member of Unesco

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Palestine was accepted Monday as a full member of the'Unesco, the UN agency responsible for education, science and culture, which became the first UN organization to receive it.

After more than 60 years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the vote seen as historic Palestine represents a further step towards international recognition, when its application for membership as a member to the United Nations is threatened by a likely veto States of America.

Application for membership of the Palestinian Authority to UNESCO, where she enjoyed a far observer status, has been approved by a vote in the organization's headquarters in Paris, by 107 votes against 14 and 52 abstentions.Twelve states did not vote.

France voted for membership, when she had abstained in a vote prior to the Executive Board prior to the final vote.Brazil, Russia, India and China have also approved his entrée.Les United States, Canada and Germany voted against it. The United Kingdom abstained. Voting has ended to applause.

Financing of the United States?

The U.S. has threatened, if approved, to suspend their financial contribution to UNESCO, which now accounts for 22% of the budget of the agency. U.S. Ambassador David Killion simply said after the vote that the ability of the United States to support Unesco would be "complicated . "Israel has responded with the voice of his ambassador to the agency, Nimrod Barkan, who called the vote Monday "tragedy for Unesco."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas officially filed September 23 an application for full membership of the Authority to the United Nations. The Security Council, where Washington has a veto, is the exclusive right to authorize similar application and the Americans have said they would use this weapon in all likelihood to block the Palestinian demand.

But Unesco was accessible to the Palestinians regardless of their status within the UN in general. The Executive Board of UNESCO decided in early October that its 193 member states would vote on the membership application by a Palestinian vote.

In Ramallah, the Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad al-Malki, said Sunday at the Voice of Palestine: "This success, if we get it, and with such a large majority, will give a strong impetus to our efforts to get the votes necessary to the United Nations. "

Source: Reuters