Hilary Clinton Ignored by UNESCO: Despite Active U.S. Efforts, Palestine Gains One Victory after Another
Published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta
(Russia) on 7 October 2011
by Владислав Воробьев (link to original)
(Russia) on 7 October 2011
by Владислав Воробьев (link to original)
Translated from
by Nina Romova.
Edited by Katerina Kobylka.
Over the past two days, the head of Palestinian bid for autonomy, Mahmoud Abbas, had a lot of reasons to feel justified in having made the right choice by submitting an application for Palestinian independence to the UNSC on September 23.
Conversely, this news caused frustration for Washington, D.C. It seems like the U.S. is losing its fans in various influential international organizations. In other words, the circle of countries ready to do anything for the White House on the first call has narrowed. The number of countries that now realize that their national interests are not the same as those of the U.S. is growing.
“I suggest UNESCO think one more time before making any voting decisions, because decisions concerning a country’s status must be made by the UN, not by its supportive groups,” said Secretary of State Clinton, whose harsh voice suggested that she was not open to discussion. But times have changed, and the U.S. opinion was heard but not taken into consideration.
40 out of 58 member countries on the Executive Board of UNESCO, suggested accepting Palestine as a rightful member of this international organization. There were only four diplomats who disagreed. Thus, only four out of 58 countries sided with the U.S. The UNESCO General Assembly will be examining the application by the end of the month. In the event of a positive outcome (and there is a great possibility for it), Palestine will gain the right to send applications for adding various cultural objectives to the list, including some controversial objectives.
A few hours before that, another large international organization struck the U.S. reputation. The European Union granted Palestinian autonomy with a “democratic movement partner” status. Now Palestinians can not only participate in the EU assembly, but also propose questions for discussion.
However, Palestine received these generous diplomatic gifts under a few strict conditions. Obviously, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas cannot complete the European homework by himself.
Palestine was asked to ban the death penalty and provide a free democratic election system within two years. In addition, Palestinians must stop their terror methods, acknowledge Israel’s existence and release Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive since 2006. In order to complete at least three of these conditions, Abbas must find common ground with his political opponents from HAMAS. For now, this is almost impossible due to disagreements among Palestinians.
Despite the complexity of the situation, the leader of the Palestinian government in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Salim Al-Zanun, was publicly optimistic. He called the assembly’s decision “historical” and said that it would definitely contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East.
And it looks like he was right. Israel recently agreed to reinforce direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Since yesterday, Israel’s authorities were ready to give up several regions on the Western bank of the Jordan to the Palestinian security force.
However, it would be a mistake to think that Palestinian-Israeli relationships will now get better and that Washington, D.C. has lost all of its dominance. It is true that the U.S. does not want to use its veto right in case Palestine does get enough votes to be an independent state. It would just make the Arab-American relationship much worse. But at the same time, U.S. President Barack Obama will not give up on Israel. He simply can’t, even if he wanted to, due to the major Jewish lobby.
On the other hand, the White House still has some opportunities left to fix the situation by taking a softer position. On October 9 there will be a meeting in Brussels on the Middle East. In reality no one is pushing America to the corner. And for now, all that needs to be done is eliminating the harshness from her voice.
Conversely, this news caused frustration for Washington, D.C. It seems like the U.S. is losing its fans in various influential international organizations. In other words, the circle of countries ready to do anything for the White House on the first call has narrowed. The number of countries that now realize that their national interests are not the same as those of the U.S. is growing.
“I suggest UNESCO think one more time before making any voting decisions, because decisions concerning a country’s status must be made by the UN, not by its supportive groups,” said Secretary of State Clinton, whose harsh voice suggested that she was not open to discussion. But times have changed, and the U.S. opinion was heard but not taken into consideration.
40 out of 58 member countries on the Executive Board of UNESCO, suggested accepting Palestine as a rightful member of this international organization. There were only four diplomats who disagreed. Thus, only four out of 58 countries sided with the U.S. The UNESCO General Assembly will be examining the application by the end of the month. In the event of a positive outcome (and there is a great possibility for it), Palestine will gain the right to send applications for adding various cultural objectives to the list, including some controversial objectives.
A few hours before that, another large international organization struck the U.S. reputation. The European Union granted Palestinian autonomy with a “democratic movement partner” status. Now Palestinians can not only participate in the EU assembly, but also propose questions for discussion.
However, Palestine received these generous diplomatic gifts under a few strict conditions. Obviously, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas cannot complete the European homework by himself.
Palestine was asked to ban the death penalty and provide a free democratic election system within two years. In addition, Palestinians must stop their terror methods, acknowledge Israel’s existence and release Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive since 2006. In order to complete at least three of these conditions, Abbas must find common ground with his political opponents from HAMAS. For now, this is almost impossible due to disagreements among Palestinians.
Despite the complexity of the situation, the leader of the Palestinian government in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Salim Al-Zanun, was publicly optimistic. He called the assembly’s decision “historical” and said that it would definitely contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East.
And it looks like he was right. Israel recently agreed to reinforce direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Since yesterday, Israel’s authorities were ready to give up several regions on the Western bank of the Jordan to the Palestinian security force.
However, it would be a mistake to think that Palestinian-Israeli relationships will now get better and that Washington, D.C. has lost all of its dominance. It is true that the U.S. does not want to use its veto right in case Palestine does get enough votes to be an independent state. It would just make the Arab-American relationship much worse. But at the same time, U.S. President Barack Obama will not give up on Israel. He simply can’t, even if he wanted to, due to the major Jewish lobby.
On the other hand, the White House still has some opportunities left to fix the situation by taking a softer position. On October 9 there will be a meeting in Brussels on the Middle East. In reality no one is pushing America to the corner. And for now, all that needs to be done is eliminating the harshness from her voice.
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