The executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization announced Wednesday that it will consider an application by the Palestine Liberation Organization for admission to the U.N. agency.
The matter will be taken up on June 19, when the executive board will decide whether to submit the application to the UNESCO general conference in November.
UNESCO is the second U.N. agency targeted by the PLO in its bid for recognition as the “state of Palestine.”
Its chances appear dim, however, in light of the vote by the 166-nation World Health Assembly in Geneva last Friday to defer for one year the PLO’s request for full membership in the World Health Organization.
Admission to the WHO is by simple majority. UNESCO and other U.N. agencies require a two-thirds vote.
Its setback in Geneva, however, was attributed in large measure to the U.S. announcement that it would withhold funding for the WHO or any U.N. agency that admits the PLO.
That threat does not hang over UNESCO, since the United States does not contribute to the UNESCO budget. It walked out of the body five years ago, protesting its anti-Western bias.
But the United States is considering a return to the agency, which would be jeopardized if UNESCO admitted the PLO. Also threatened would be the voluntary contributions the U.S. government makes to some of the agency’s programs.
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