Palestinians win Unesco seat vote

31 October 2011 Last updated at 09:13 ET

Unesco’s 193 members are meeting for their general conference, which takes place every two years

The UN cultural organisation has voted strongly in favour of membership for the Palestinians – a move opposed by Israel and the United States.

Out of 173 countries voting, 107 were in favour, with 14 opposed and 52 abstentions.

Before the vote, the US said it would stop its funding to Unesco if the Palestinians’ bid was accepted.

The UN Security Council will vote in November on whether Palestine should become a full UN member state.

Membership of Unesco – perhaps best known for its World Heritage s – may seem a strange step towards statehood, says the BBC’s Jon Donnison, in Ramallah, but Palestinian leaders see it as part of a broader push to get international recognition and put pressure on Israel.

This is the first UN agency the Palestinians have sought to join since submitting their bid for recognition to the Security Council in September.

“This vote will erase a tiny part of the injustice done to the Palestinian people,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the Unesco meeting in Paris, after the result was announced.

Funding at stake

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on that bid in November. The United States has said it will use its veto.

But at Unesco, the US does not have veto power.

“We believe this is counterproductive… The only path for the Palestinians is through direction negotiations,” US Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter told delegates ahead of the vote.

The Palestinian move has put Unesco in a bind.

Following a US law passed in the 1990s, America has said it would cut funding to any UN body that admitted Palestine as a full member.

That amounts to $70m (£43.7m) a year – over 20% of Unesco’s entire budget.

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