Advancing the Cause of Peace

"Palestinian membership as a state in UNESCO triggers long-standing legislative restrictions which will compel the United States to refrain from making contributions to UNESCO." Victoria Nuland, U.S. State Department

Proving once again that there are more than a dozen ways to skin a cat, the Palestinian Authority has achieved its goal for one member-agency of the United Nations. There are approximately sixteen such agencies left to go. And the Palestinian Authority is determined to tackle each and every one of them, in turn.

Mind, if they had been welcomed with the open arms they attempted to attract, to the UN's general membership, entry to the agencies would have been automatic. But if one approach does not prove effective, veer off and attempt another. Where the will is there, the way will be opened. And so it was.

UNESCO voted to include the Palestinian Authority in its membership - as a full member. Canada was one of fourteen nations to vote against membership for the PA. The vote passed with 107 states approving, 52 abstentions and fourteen votes against.

But the PA has other plans as well; the World Health Organization is next up. And following that there will be others they will seek to join such as the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization, International Telecommunication Union, International Labor Organization, International Atomic Energy Agency, and so on.

But UNESCO may have just brought big problems on itself. The United States is invoking a law that would have it begin de-funding the agency. And since UNESCO is dependent on the U.S. for 22% of its annual budget of just under a billion dollars, they will find it difficult to do without the $80-million the U.S. is set to withhold.

And Canada is right there behind the U.S. with its $12-million which it too may choose to withhold.

As for Israel, its Foreign Minister explained his country's position on this second, and successful attempt to land the PA inside the UN: "My recommendations will be very clear, we need to weigh cutting all ties with the Palestinian Authority. We cannot continue to accept unilateral measures time after time."

In other words, as long as the Palestinian Authority is determined to refuse coming back to the bargaining table one-on-one with the Israelis to reach for a peace agreement, and instead hack away at achieving membership in the United Nations before it can represent as a constitutionally and internationally recognized state living in peace with its neighbour, peace will remain elusive.

The encouragement of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund was fairly precipitate. They spoke of an economy that has been internationally funded, not one that internally generates its own GDP, and one which, furthermore, has benefited from trade and assistance with its neighbour with whom it refuses to negotiate.

With its UNESCO membership, the PA is preparing to initiate further mischief instead of settling down to prove unequivocally that it has matured as a nascent, responsible state. It will attempt to take possession and recognition of sites vital to Israel in contention with that state's historical, heritage sites such as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Attempting, in other words, to jerk the rug of legitimacy in cultural, religious heritage and statehood out from under the very country it keeps claiming is its military "occupier", to ensure that no peace whatever can eventually arrive on the scene, defusing the ever sparking fuse of blame, hatred and violence.