- Sep 12, 2009
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By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, TOVAH LAZAROFF AND REBECCA A
11/01/2011 00:59
Washington won't make planned $60 million transfer for UN cultural agency, State Department says; FM: Israel should cut ties with PA.
The United States on Monday froze funding to a United Nations educational body, after it became the first UN organization to recognize Palestine as an independent state.
In a dramatic move that inched the Palestinian Authority closer to its bid for unilateral statehood, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) accepted Palestine as the 195th member of its organization.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas thanked all the countries that supported its UNESCO membership bid.
“This vote is a vote for peace,” Abbas was quoted by the PA’s news agency, Wafa, as saying.
“The vote constitutes an international consensus to support the legitimate national rights of our people – first and foremost the right to establish an independent state.”
The vote is a “victory for Palestinian independence,” Abbas said. The entire world, he added, stood with the Palestinians today.
It also underscored the need to establish a Palestinian state as soon as possible, Abbas said.
“This vote is not directed against anyone,” he said. “It’s meant to support freedom and justice.”
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said after the vote: “Today’s victory at UNESCO is the beginning of a road that is difficult, but will lead to the freedom of our land and people from occupation.
Palestine has the right to a place on the map.”
Israel, however, warned that the UNESCO vote harmed ongoing Quartet efforts to jump-start the peace talks, which have been stalled since October 2010.
“The Palestinian move at UNESCO, as with similar such steps with other UN bodies, is tantamount to a rejection of the international community’s efforts to advance the peace process,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement it issued to the press.
It threatened to cut its ties with UNESCO.
“The State of Israel will consider its further steps and ongoing cooperation with the organization,” the Ministry said.
At the Knesset, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sternly said Israel should consider cutting all ties to the PA.
“My recommendations will be very clear,” the foreign minister explained at an Israel Beiteinu faction meeting. “We need to weigh cutting all ties with the Palestinian Authority.
We cannot continue to accept unilateral measures time after time.”
Read more:
http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=243912
11/01/2011 00:59
Washington won't make planned $60 million transfer for UN cultural agency, State Department says; FM: Israel should cut ties with PA.
The United States on Monday froze funding to a United Nations educational body, after it became the first UN organization to recognize Palestine as an independent state.
In a dramatic move that inched the Palestinian Authority closer to its bid for unilateral statehood, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) accepted Palestine as the 195th member of its organization.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas thanked all the countries that supported its UNESCO membership bid.
“This vote is a vote for peace,” Abbas was quoted by the PA’s news agency, Wafa, as saying.
“The vote constitutes an international consensus to support the legitimate national rights of our people – first and foremost the right to establish an independent state.”
The vote is a “victory for Palestinian independence,” Abbas said. The entire world, he added, stood with the Palestinians today.
It also underscored the need to establish a Palestinian state as soon as possible, Abbas said.
“This vote is not directed against anyone,” he said. “It’s meant to support freedom and justice.”
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said after the vote: “Today’s victory at UNESCO is the beginning of a road that is difficult, but will lead to the freedom of our land and people from occupation.
Palestine has the right to a place on the map.”
Israel, however, warned that the UNESCO vote harmed ongoing Quartet efforts to jump-start the peace talks, which have been stalled since October 2010.
“The Palestinian move at UNESCO, as with similar such steps with other UN bodies, is tantamount to a rejection of the international community’s efforts to advance the peace process,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement it issued to the press.
It threatened to cut its ties with UNESCO.
“The State of Israel will consider its further steps and ongoing cooperation with the organization,” the Ministry said.
At the Knesset, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sternly said Israel should consider cutting all ties to the PA.
“My recommendations will be very clear,” the foreign minister explained at an Israel Beiteinu faction meeting. “We need to weigh cutting all ties with the Palestinian Authority.
We cannot continue to accept unilateral measures time after time.”
Read more:
http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=243912
