Palestine in UNESCO – Ending The State Of Confusion
Palestine’s continuing membership of UNESCO has become far more tenuous and now faces increased scrutiny following a decision by the Office Of The Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that Palestine is not a State…writes David Singer.
Only States can be admitted as members of UNESCO under Clause II Paragraph 2 of UNESCO’s Constitution.
The OTP decision now casts grave doubt on Palestine legally continuing to remain a member of UNESCO.
Alarm bells should be ringing at UNESCO calling for it to urgently approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to determine whether:
- Palestine is a State and if so
- whether the number of votes required to admit it as a member under UNESCO’s Constitution is 129 – not the 107 actually obtained
The OTP decision was announced on 3 April – more than three years after Palestine had first sought to become a State party to the Rome Statute of the ICC.
Sixteen legal opinions were submitted to the OTP – arguing both for and against the claim that Palestine was a State.
I am pleased the OPT has now confirmed my opinion that Palestine is not a State. However I am fully cognisant of the fact that the ICJ needs to confirm the correctness of that opinion for it to have any binding effect. Still it is comforting to be on the same wavelength as the OTP and many others who expressed the same opinion in their submissions to the OTP.
Hopefully UNESCO might at least now take the issues I have raised concerning Palestine’s admission to UNESCO more seriously – and not sit pat and smugly refuse to address my concerns.
I have sought in vain for the last five months to have UNESCO produce any documents which its Executive Board may have considered before concluding that Palestine was a State – qualifying to be admitted to UNESCO.
My requests to produce copies of such documents have been ignored. UNESCO has made it clear the matter is closed and is not to be the subject of any further discussion with me.
In contrast to UNESCO’s lack of transparency – the sixteen legal opinions lodged with the OTP can be viewed on theICC website. The legal opinions or other documents UNESCO relied on (if any) are being withheld from public scrutiny.
Has UNESCO something to hide? I don’t really know at this stage – but its arrogant and high handed conduct needs to be exposed and justified.
Significantly some UNESCO documents have now come to light – from a source other than UNESCO – that make the decision of the 58 members of the Executive Board of UNESCO to recommend the admission of Palestine very intriguing
Palestine’s request for admission to UNESCO was first made in 1989 and has been reiterated at every General Conference since then.
At the time of Palestine’s initial application in 1989 – Israel had submitted an opinion arguing that Palestine was not a State. Given that the 1993 Oslo Accords were then only a twinkle in someone’s eye – Israel’s viewpoint could not be seriously challenged – notwithstanding Yassar Arafat‘s vacuous Palestinian Declaration of Independence made on 15 November 1988.
After 1993 and more particularly after the Bush Roadmap saw the light of day in 2002 – Palestine’s request for membership in UNESCO continued to be reiterated at every General Conference meeting without success.
The question that UNESCO now needs to answer is – what facts or circumstances changed in 2011 to enable the Executive Board of UNESCO to conclude that Palestine was a State and qualified to become a member of UNESCO?
There appears to be one document that may provide some assistance – the summary record of the sixth plenary meeting of the session of the Executive Board.
Perhaps a copy of this document will now fall off the back of a truck and end up in my hands.
Whether Palestine is a State must surely now be decided by the ICJ.
The legal uncertainty introduced by the OTP decision and the divergent opinions expressed in the submissions made to the OTP cannot possibly be ignored by UNESCO.
That kind of dismissive and contemptuous conduct might work against the expressed opinion of any individual like myself.
But it cannot and should not be tolerated when UNESCO is now faced with a formidable body of legal opinions that Palestine is not a State.
Whilst Palestine remains a member state of UNESCO – the following flow on effects are guaranteed:
- The loss of 22% of UNESCO’s funding to the end of 2013 – totalling $260 million in suspended American dues – that is unlikely to be fully replaced
- The abandonment or curtailment of many UNESCO global humanitarian programs in areas such as literacy, water purification, gender equality, AIDS and HIV education and prevention – affecting the lives of scores of millions of people world wide
- The end of negotiations for the two-state solution envisaged by the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap – with manifold implications for resolving the long running conflict between Arabs and Jews.
UNESCO can of course continue to stick its head in the sand and ignore all calls for it to seek an advisory opinion from the ICJ on the legality of its decision to admit Palestine.
87 of the 194 countries in UNESCO did not vote to admit Palestine into UNESCO. They have remained silent for the last five months and by their conduct have accepted the legal right of Palestine to sit alongside them as an equal and member State. They can hardly claim that Palestine is not a State whilst they accept that Palestine remains a member of UNESCO.
The OTP decision should make all 194 member states think again.
The fact that Palestine might not legally be a State should surely see some of those 87 naysayer states proposing that UNESCO submits a brief to the ICJ seeking its advisory opinion on whether Palestine’s admission to UNESCO does comply with UNESCO’s Constitution – or does not.
Failure to do so can only result in foreseeable and possibly unforeseeable consequences – not only for the hopes and aspirations of Jews and Arabs in the Middle East – but for UNESCO’s global community.
The OTP decision serves as a clarion call for UNESCO to open its records and approach the ICJ without further delay.
David Singer is a Sydney Lawyer and Foundation Member of the International Analysts Network
Lynne
Unlike the Vatican’s stealth like performance – the decision to accept Palestine as a full member state of UNESCO was recommended by the 58 members of the Executive Board and endorsed by the votes of 107 member states.
The other 87 states have done nothing in the last 5 months to seek to reverse that decision or suspend their membership of UNESCO in protest.. They have by their conduct agreed that Palestine is a state and that accordingly the Palestinian Arabs are no longer stateless and without a country of their own.
The 194 countries should now be calling for:
1. Winding up UNWRA
2. Disband the Quartet
3 Consign Oslo and the Bush Roadmap to the garbage bin
4. Demand Palestinian Arabs behave like the citizens of other states and not “freedom fighters” (aka “terrorists”
If Palestine want to import arms into its State it can do so – since Israel’s insistence on Palestine being demilitarized is no longer relevant.
If Palestine does not want to recognize Israel as the Jewish state and wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth – it is free to say so.
Palestine is now a state – like every other state. It needs to act inconformity with the obligations incumbent on every other state – or bear the consequences.
If Palestine wants to expand the land it effectively controls – it will have to get Israel to agree to negotiate with it under an entirely new negotiating process – otherwise it can whistle in the wind.
Israel in the meantime is free to deal with the territory it effectively controls in the West Bank as it considers is in Israel’s best national interest.
These are the consequences of Palestine achieving statehood and international recognition of its status as State.
I don’t agree that Palestine is a State – but until the UNESCO decision is reversed – it stands – and we all have to deal with this new reality.
I see what what you are saying David, without disputing Geoffery Robertson.
The benefits of being voted in as a member of UNESCO is unlimited.
All the heritage sites Israel will lose: is it true you surrended David’s tomb, I recall the Tomb of Rachel being brought into question.
In looking back over history, I read at a point in time, the church was concerned that the agreement on tax exemption on church properties with Ariel Sharon would fall through and that they owed massive amounts of money in back taxes, was it ever paid, as a matter of interest.
Lot’s of politicking and nothing at all to do with spirituality.
After researching, I will answer my own question here in case anyone else is interested.
At long last, the Vatican has agreed to pay the millions of dollars it owes in past property taxes, in return for ‘waivering it’s demand’ for sovereignty of the Tomb of David and the room of the Last Supper.
I’m still interested in Rachels Tomb now that Palestine has been accepted as a member of UNESCO, the Vatican may have won that one.
Lynne – Rachel’s tomb is in Israel’s hands. I was there last month.
I hope it remains there Shirlee, not for my sake as I will most probably never have the opportunity to visit it.
Do you see now how things can slip under the radar, by stealth is how Geoffery Robertson put it.
Page 97. The Holy See and the United Nations, chapter 6.
139. The church gradually insinuated itself into the UN system,without ever inviting a determination as to it’s statehood. After it’s rejection in 1944 it turned up at a Food and Agricultural Organisation Conference in 1948 and was granted observer status because of it’s ‘special religious nature’- whatever the FAQ took that to mean-it’s headquarters were in Rome and it was vulnerable to papal influence. From 1951 a Vatican diplomat attended meetings of the General Assembly and the World Health Organisation as an observer and on an ad hoc basis,AND UNESCO ACCEPTED IT AS A ‘PERMANET OBSERVER. In 1956, the Holy See arrived at a conference of the International Atomic Energy Commission AND WAS FOR SOME REASON ACCEPTED AS A FULL MEMBER – A DECISION MADE BY AN OBSCURE OFFICIAL AND NOT SUBJECT TO ANY VOTE. You will have to read the rest for yourselves if interested.
But it proves the point.