While the Palestinian statehood bid at the 9/2011 UNGA session was the major UN event of interest this quarter, a handful of other actions affecting the peace process took place in UN bodies.
UNESCO Membership for Palestine
On 10/5, UNESCO’s 58-member executive council voted (40-4, with 14 abstentions) to give the Palestinians preliminary approval to upgrade their status in the organization from observer (held since 1975) to full member. On 10/21, UNESCO’s 193-member general conference affirmed the decision (by a vote of 107-14, with 52 abstentions and 20 not present). In both cases, the U.S. opposed and the EU was divided; in the final vote, 11 EU states (including France) voted in favor, 5 (including Germany) voted against, and 11 (including Britain) abstained. Palestinian spokesman Ghassan Khatib called (10/31) the decision “especially important because part of our battle with the Israeli occupation” involves defining history and heritage.
According to the U.S. government, existing legislation (passed 1990, 1994) required the U.S. (which contributes 22% of UNESCO’s budget) to cut off all contributions to UNESCO (dues and voluntary contributions) if the Palestinians were given full membership in the organization without possibility of a presidential waiver. In the run-up to UNESCO’s 10/5 meeting, U.S. Secy. of State Clinton charged special envoy Hale to urge the Palestinians and Arab states not to pursue UNESCO membership so as to avoid a financing crisis for the organization; failing that, Hale was to press for a delay in the vote at the least until 1/2012 to enable the U.S. legally to send UNESCO the $60 m. payment scheduled for 11/2011.The pleas were rebuffed. After the 10/31 vote, the U.S., Canada, and Israel immediately cut off aid totaling more than a quarter of UNESCO’s budget. On 11/10, UNESCO suspended all new projects through the end of 2011 for lack of funds.
Palestinian envoy to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, said (11/1) that in light of the landslide UNESCO vote, the Palestinians were examining the possibility of seeking full membership in the other 16 UN agencies and other international organizations within the next few weeks, starting with the World Heath Organization. While reiterating support for Palestinian statehood, UN Secy.-Gen. Ban Ki-Moon warned (11/3) the Palestinians that further efforts to join UN agencies were “not beneficial for anybody” and would lead to cuts in UN funding affecting millions of people. The Palestinians took no further action this quarter.
World Conference against Racism
On the sidelines of the UNGA session in New York, the UN held (9/22) an international gathering (called Durban 3) to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa, which had given special focus to Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians. In total, 14 countries boycotted the meeting (Australia, Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, the U.S.), charging that WCAR meetings have promoted racism, intolerance, anti-Semitism, and Holocaust denial and have eroded freedom of speech and Israel’s right to exist. The same countries, excluding Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, and France, had previously boycotted the Durban 2 conference in 2009.