The executive committee of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization reached consensus Wednesday to postpone for two years consideration of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s application for membership as a state called “Palestine.”
The resolution, adopted without a formal vote by UNESCO’s 51-member governing body, is considered a triumph for American and Israeli diplomacy aimed at denying the PLO admission to international agencies.
The resolution will be submitted for final approval to UNESCO’s General Conference, which convenes here from Oct. 17 to Nov. 16. Since that vote will be a formality, adoption is expected.
The General Conference is UNESCO’s equivalent of the U.N. General Assembly. The resolution defers consideration of the PLO’s bid until its next session in October 1991.
Ambassador Ya’akov Aviad, head of the Israeli delegation to UNESCO, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Wednesday’s decision was a great success. “UNESCO cannot serve, as the PLO had hoped, as an example to other international organizations to admit it,” he said.
The Americans withdrew from UNESCO in 1985, charging mismanagement and anti-Western bias. It is the only major international organization or specialized U.N. agency of which the United States is not a member.
$1 MILLION IN AID FOR PALESTINIANS
In spite of its formal absence, the American observer delegation, headed by Assistant Secretary of State John Bolton, played a crucial role in obtaining a consensus vote on a very sensitive issue.
The United States was able to exert decisive influence by making clear that its chances of rejoining UNESCO were nil if the PLO was admitted.
The resolution was backed by 11 Arab and Afro-Asian countries that normally support Palestinian aspirations and by America’s Western European allies.
The PLO representative, Omar Massalah, told the executive committee his organization accepted the deferral, “so as not to break UNESCO’s harmony and tradition of international cooperation.”
There was some succor for the PLO. A lastminute addition to the draft resolution provided about $1 million in aid for scholarships and for Palestinian participation in various UNESCO-sponsored conferences and seminars.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
