Palestinians aim to join UN bodies
The Palestinians will apply for full membership of as many United Nations agencies as possible as part of push to advance their national interests, an official said.
The plan is likely to generate more criticism from the United States, which has pledged to veto a Palestinian request last month for full membership of the United Nations, if it comes to a vote in the Security Council.
The Palestinians have been preparing their drive for membership of the UN agencies over the past two years as part of a plan to get ready for statehood, said Omar Awadallah, who heads the UN department at the foreign ministry.
"Our policy is now toward gaining membership of all international organizations, and specialized organizations of the United Nations as a full member," he told Reuters in an interview. "We are not looking for confrontation, we are looking to secure our rights," he said.
The plan advanced last week with a Palestinian application for full membership of the Paris-based UN cultural body Unesco. The organization's board decided to put the application to a vote in a general assembly meeting later this month.
Though their application for full UN membership looks set to fail due to U.S. opposition, the Palestinians can still secure full membership of some international agencies, even with their current UN status as an "observer entity."
These include Unesco, the World Health Organization (WHO), the international police agency Interpol and the International Telecommunications Union. US pressure has in the past played a major role in dissuading the Palestinians from applying for full membership of such agencies.
But their application for full UNESCO membership, like their bid to become a full member state of the United Nations, has signalled a new Palestinian readiness to ignore US objections.
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