UNESCO Approves Palestinian Membership Bid

On Monday, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) voted to accept the Palestinian delegation as a member. The vote was overhwhelmingly in favor of granting membership to Palestine “out of 173 countries voting, 107 were in favor, with 14 opposed and 52 abstentions.” Before the vote, the United States had threatened to end its portion of funding for UNESCO, “22 percent…(about $70 million) plus another 3 percent contributed by Israel.” UNESCO must make up the funding or be forced to layoff staff and close some of their offices. The UN Security Council is scheduled to vote in November on whether to accept Palestine as a full UN member state.