Palestine becomes member of Unesco, US threatens to halt fund

Palestine became a full member of Unesco on Monday, in a highly divisive move that could cost the agency a fifth of its budget and that the US and other opponents say could harm renewed Mideast peace efforts.


Lawmakers in the United States, which provides about 22 per cent of Unesco's funding, had threatened to halt some $80 million in annual funding if Palestinian membership was approved. It wasn't clear in the immediate aftermath of Monday's vote whether the threat would become reality.

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.

"Long Live Palestine!" shouted one delegate, in French, at the unusually tense and dramatic meeting of Unesco's General Conference.

The UN agency protects historic heritage sites and works to improve world literacy and cultural understanding, but it also has come under criticism in the past as a forum for anti-Israel sentiment. The United States pulled out of Unesco under President Ronald Reagan but rejoined under President George W Bush.

Monday's vote is a symbolic breakthrough but it alone won't make Palestine into a state. The issue of borders of an eventual Palestinian state, security troubles and other disputes that have thwarted Middle East peace for decades remain unresolved.

Palestinian officials are seeking full membership in the United Nations, but that effort is still under examination and the US has said it will veto it unless there is a peace deal with Israel. Given that, the Palestinians separately sought membership at Paris-based Unesco and other UN bodies.

Monday's vote is definitive. The membership formally takes effect when Palestine signs Unesco's founding charter.

The US ambassador to Unesco, David Killion, said Monday's vote will "complicate" US efforts to support the agency. The United States voted against the measure.

Israel's ambassador to Unesco, Nimrod Barkan, called the vote a tragedy.

"Unesco deals in science, not science fiction," he said. "They forced on Unesco a political subject out of its competence."

"They've forced a drastic cut in contributions to the organization," he said.