US cuts Unesco funding over Palestinian support

Obama administration says it has no choice but to slash UN body's total income by 20 per cent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/mi...rt-6255541.html

 

The Obama administration has cut off funding for Unesco after it awarded Palestine full membership – a result hailed by Palestinians as a crucial step in its bid for full UN membership.

 

There were loud cheers as the results of the vote were announced: 107 in favour, 14 against and 52 abstentions. The vote would, Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad al-Maliki, told delegates in Paris after the result, "erase a tiny part of the injustice done to the Palestinian people".

 

One of the first concrete results of Palestine's membership could be that the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is listed as a world heritage site.

 

But it was a risky gambit, the result of which is that the UN's educational, scientific and cultural body will lose at least 22 per cent – or $60m – of its funding from the United States, which is obliged by a two decades-old law to withdraw support from any body that grants the Palestine Liberation Organisation the standing of a state.

 

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that the United States had no choice but to halt funding, and said the vote was "regrettable, premature and undermines our shared goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East."

 

The vote would, said David Killion, US ambassador to Unesco, "complicate" Washington's efforts to support the body, but insisted that the US remained "deeply committed" to the institution and would seek alternative ways to fund it.

 

Israel, which voted against the motion, accused the Palestinians of taking a counterproductive step that will change nothing on the ground, while moving a peace agreement further out of reach.

 

"Unesco deals in science, not science fiction," said Nimrod Barkan, Israel's ambassador to Unesco. "They forced on Unesco a political subject out of its competence. They have forced a drastic cut in contributions to the organisation."

 

His government said it was reconsidering its co-operation with Unesco.

 

Before the vote, Israel's outspoken Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said that if the measure passed, Israel should cut off ties with the Palestinian Authority. It was not clear whether he was voicing government policy.

 

But the Palestinians viewed the move as a measure of international support and a moral victory for their campaign to internationalise the conflict amid a prevailing domestic view that peace negotiations have achieved little or nothing for them in nearly 20 years of talks.

 

Israel and the Americans have insisted that the only way to achieve an independent state is through face-to-face negotiations with Israel, and they have both lobbied vigorously against a parallel Palestinian effort to seek full membership of the UN, a bid that is almost certainly doomed in light of Washington's insistence that it will veto the move. But yesterday's vote faced no such obstacles.

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How typical... US sides with the Zionists yet again. Predictable really.. So, now Obama does the cowardly thing, refuses to repeal an act from the Bush Sr days which should never have been on the US Statute books to begin with, and uses it as a lame justification.. They use it as an excuse, but even if such a law didn't exist, this administration would likely invent it, because it's clear where the US political establishment stands - with the Zionists every step of the way.

 

Britain abstained from the vote.. Which I guess is a bit better than attempting to block it, but still a bit of a cop-out, but I suppose UK cant be seen to be actually standing up to U$rael and defying them.... Shame on Australia however....

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Greens slam Australia's Palestine stance

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-...x-1226182638808

 

THE Australian Greens have slammed the Federal Government for trying to block Palestine's entry to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

 

Greens Leader Bob Brown now wants Australia to financially support the organisation after the US declared it would stop contributions to UNESCO after Palestine was admitted as a full member in Paris yesterday.

 

"This is very poor form of the Australian Government," Senator Brown said today.

 

Rather than voting against the motion, Australia should have at least followed the lead of the UK and New Zealand in abstaining from the vote, he said.

 

"It's counter-intuitive and it's time Australia took a more independent role," Senator Brown said. "We don't have to be tied to what the US does in matters like this."

 

The Greens were on the side of Palestine being given its independence alongside "a safe and secure" Israel.

 

 

The US responded to Palestine's entry to UNESCO by stopping financial contributions. It provides about 22 per cent of UNESCO's annual budget.

 

The US, Israel's top ally, in the 1990s banned the financing of any UN organisation that accepted Palestine as a full member.

 

Senator Brown says Australia should step in.

 

"I would hope that Australia would consider helping make up for it if the US does the wrong thing and withdraws some 25 per cent of UNESCO's funding because of this vote," he said.

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Very, very disappointing....I kind of expected better from the Aussies than to just suck up to the Yanks... -_-

I feel slightly for Obama that his hands are effectively tied with the obligation to withdraw the funding, it's hardly his doing and the US is that backward that there would be uproar if he made any attempt to reverse the rule. I'm not sure how easy it would be to do so, I'm guessing it would have to go through Congress?

I feel slightly for Obama that his hands are effectively tied with the obligation to withdraw the funding, it's hardly his doing and the US is that backward that there would be uproar if he made any attempt to reverse the rule. I'm not sure how easy it would be to do so, I'm guessing it would have to go through Congress?

 

He could just choose to ignore it.. Like he's just choosing to ignore all the Corporate malfeasance and fraud, thieving and money laundering for drugs cartels that's going on in the Banking sector.... -_-

He could just choose to ignore it.. Like he's just choosing to ignore all the Corporate malfeasance and fraud, thieving and money laundering for drugs cartels that's going on in the Banking sector.... -_-

 

Given it's a LAW though, it would still require overturning given if he simply ignored it then it would be far more publicised than everything that you've described. There'd be a backlash in the US that the right-wing media would completely jump on.

Given it's a LAW though, it would still require overturning given if he simply ignored it then it would be far more publicised than everything that you've described. There'd be a backlash in the US that the right-wing media would completely jump on.

 

I know, incredible innit...? Just shows how completely f**ked up the Western media is..... And people wonder why I watch Russia Today and Al Jazeera.... LOL :rolleyes: