It wasn’t even close. Only 13 of the 194 members of UNESCO voted with Israel against granting full membership to Palestine. As many as 107 voted for, while 52 abstained and the rest were absent. Even the European Union did not vote with Israel as a bloc. France sided with the Palestinians and Britain abstained.
This shows how isolated Israel and its dwindling backers have become because of Benjamin Netanyahu’s intransigence toward the Palestinians.
In fact, the picture is worse when you consider that many of those 13 governments, including American and Canadian ones, are acting against the wishes of their own people, who favour granting the Palestinians full status at the United Nations and its agencies, according to a recent BBC poll.
The U.S. is yanking its $80 million a year contribution to UNESCO’s $643 million budget. The cutback, decreed by Congress, is going ahead even though the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization advances a western agenda around the world, especially in Afghanistan — literacy, schooling, teacher training, gender equity, clean water and basic health. The Stephen Harper government is, to its credit, keeping Canada’s $10 million a year support.
UNESCO will no doubt feel the pinch. But it will survive, just as it did for 20 years when the U.S. pulled out in 1984 — also over Israel, among other issues. This time, the funding shortfall may be more readily made up by other states, further eroding American/Israeli say.
The Palestinians can now submit their application for a UNESCO world heritage designation for the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus.
The Palestinians are also poised to pursue membership in 16 other UN agencies and international organizations — such as the World Health Organization, the UN Development Program, the Population Fund, the Environment Program, the World Food Program, the Children’s Fund, the International Criminal Court, the World Bank and the World Intellectual Property Organization (which deals with patent, copyright and trademark matters). Washington may cut off funding to these agencies as well.
Next week, the Palestinian bid for a full-fledged membership in the United Nations itself will go before the Security Council. The attempt will fail — either because it won’t attract the needed nine votes due to American arm-twisting or, even if it does, it would be vetoed by the U.S. The Palestinians will then move to the 193-member General Assembly, where they have the votes to win observer status. At that point, what would Washington do? Stop funding the UN? Or pull right out?
Congress may also cut its $500 million a year funding to the Palestinian Authority to punish its pursuit of international recognition. This even though the Israeli commander in charge of the West Bank, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, has said that reducing the ability of PA to pay its security services would only risk upending the calm that it has helped maintain for the last three years.
Congress is in the same league as Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing foreign minister of Israel, who’s threatening to cut off all ties with the P.A. This even though President Mahmoud Abbas is the most accommodating Palestinian leader in decades.
Netanyahu himself cut Abbas completely out of the recent prisoner swap with Hamas — the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. As the New York Times said in an editorial: “Netanyahu twisted himself in an ideological knot to get this deal. Only five months ago, he wanted to cut off tax remittances to the Palestinian Authority and urged the United States to halt aid because Abbas tried to forge a unity government with Hamas.”
A further irony: While Canada, the U.S. and the European Union boycott Hamas, having deemed it a terrorist entity, here’s Israel doing deals with it.
It is these endless absurdities that continue to erode public goodwill toward Israel. Its increasing isolation is not usually because of anti-Semitism, as often claimed.
The Palestinians have taken the route of international recognition because they have got nowhere with Israel in ending the occupation that is now in its 44th year. Far from being “unilateral” — as alleged by Israel, Canada, the U.S. and others — the Palestinians are placing their confidence in the world’s most prominent multilateral institutions. In so doing, they are opening avenues other than being at the mercy of Israel, backed by Canada and others, whose leverage over the international community is eroding by the day.
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
This shows how isolated Israel and its dwindling backers have become because of Benjamin Netanyahu’s intransigence toward the Palestinians.
In fact, the picture is worse when you consider that many of those 13 governments, including American and Canadian ones, are acting against the wishes of their own people, who favour granting the Palestinians full status at the United Nations and its agencies, according to a recent BBC poll.
The U.S. is yanking its $80 million a year contribution to UNESCO’s $643 million budget. The cutback, decreed by Congress, is going ahead even though the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization advances a western agenda around the world, especially in Afghanistan — literacy, schooling, teacher training, gender equity, clean water and basic health. The Stephen Harper government is, to its credit, keeping Canada’s $10 million a year support.
UNESCO will no doubt feel the pinch. But it will survive, just as it did for 20 years when the U.S. pulled out in 1984 — also over Israel, among other issues. This time, the funding shortfall may be more readily made up by other states, further eroding American/Israeli say.
The Palestinians can now submit their application for a UNESCO world heritage designation for the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus.
The Palestinians are also poised to pursue membership in 16 other UN agencies and international organizations — such as the World Health Organization, the UN Development Program, the Population Fund, the Environment Program, the World Food Program, the Children’s Fund, the International Criminal Court, the World Bank and the World Intellectual Property Organization (which deals with patent, copyright and trademark matters). Washington may cut off funding to these agencies as well.
Next week, the Palestinian bid for a full-fledged membership in the United Nations itself will go before the Security Council. The attempt will fail — either because it won’t attract the needed nine votes due to American arm-twisting or, even if it does, it would be vetoed by the U.S. The Palestinians will then move to the 193-member General Assembly, where they have the votes to win observer status. At that point, what would Washington do? Stop funding the UN? Or pull right out?
Congress may also cut its $500 million a year funding to the Palestinian Authority to punish its pursuit of international recognition. This even though the Israeli commander in charge of the West Bank, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, has said that reducing the ability of PA to pay its security services would only risk upending the calm that it has helped maintain for the last three years.
Congress is in the same league as Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing foreign minister of Israel, who’s threatening to cut off all ties with the P.A. This even though President Mahmoud Abbas is the most accommodating Palestinian leader in decades.
Netanyahu himself cut Abbas completely out of the recent prisoner swap with Hamas — the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. As the New York Times said in an editorial: “Netanyahu twisted himself in an ideological knot to get this deal. Only five months ago, he wanted to cut off tax remittances to the Palestinian Authority and urged the United States to halt aid because Abbas tried to forge a unity government with Hamas.”
A further irony: While Canada, the U.S. and the European Union boycott Hamas, having deemed it a terrorist entity, here’s Israel doing deals with it.
It is these endless absurdities that continue to erode public goodwill toward Israel. Its increasing isolation is not usually because of anti-Semitism, as often claimed.
The Palestinians have taken the route of international recognition because they have got nowhere with Israel in ending the occupation that is now in its 44th year. Far from being “unilateral” — as alleged by Israel, Canada, the U.S. and others — the Palestinians are placing their confidence in the world’s most prominent multilateral institutions. In so doing, they are opening avenues other than being at the mercy of Israel, backed by Canada and others, whose leverage over the international community is eroding by the day.
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
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