Following the 107 to 14 vote that gained Palestine full membership in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Oct. 31, the United States cut off all funding to the U.N. organization after attempting to block the vote.

The cutoff followed a U.S. law barring funding of any organization with Palestinian membership before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached and will take effect immediately, according to the State Department website.

‘The U.S. must strongly oppose this move and make clear that any decision to upgrade the Palestinian’s mission’s status by UNESCO or any other entity will lead to a cutoff of U.S. funds for that entity,’ said U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a statement.

Palestine’s admission into UNESCO is the latest effort made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his bid for U.N. statehood, a vote the United States promises to veto.

Some believe the United States is making a mistake that will have repercussions.

‘It just looks like America is obstructing justice for something that is very, very important, not just for Palestinians, but for the entire Muslim world,’ said Miriam Elman, associate professor of political science.

U.S. business interests could suffer without ties to UNESCO. By denying Palestine, the United States is standing on the wrong side, said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, associate professor of political science.

‘I think the U.S. will veto the vote, and it is going to come at a huge cost,’ he said.

Palestine will need a nine-vote majority when the U.N. Security Council votes on its membership. Despite Palestine’s successful UNESCO vote, France and Bosnia-Herzegovina have joined the growing list of countries that have decided to abstain from voting on Palestine’s full U.N. membership.

Palestine’s inability to gain legitimacy from a citizenry, the Palestinian refugee community and Hamas, the governing party of the Gaza Strip, are preventing the United States from supporting the country’s bid, Elman said.

‘A sovereign state that’s a fully bona fide member of the U.N. has to protect the states around it,’ Elman said.

If Palestine wants to gain approval from the United States, Elman said she believes Hamas needs to renounce violent confrontation and agree to give up its arms. There needs to be significant efforts made to lessen the presence of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic rhetoric within the Palestinian territories.

In regard to Israel, Elman said she sees the Palestinian U.N. statehood as a victory for Zionism, citing Abbas’ recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a symbolic effort of peace. If Palestine becomes a member of the U.N., it would also allow Israel the authority to take action against Palestine for terrorism, something it has not been able to do so far.

Palestine’s U.N. statehood is viewed by many in the international community as a necessary means for peace between Palestine and Israel. The United States is expected to support any effort for peace in that region or face extreme criticism from the Arab world.

Said Elman: ‘We need peoples in the region to be sympathetic with American’s troubles, and they’re not going to be if they see that America is not sympathetic with something that they value.’

dclocket@syr.edu

Published on November 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm