US Lawmakers warned UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, that it stands to lose tens of millions of dollars in U.S. funding if it agrees to admit Palestine as a member before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is concluded.
The warning came as UNESCO executive committee on Wednesday backed a Palestinian bid to become a member of the body with the rights of a state.
Palestine's Arab allies braved intense US and French diplomatic pressure to bring the motion before the committee's member states.
The Palestinian bid will now be submitted to the UNESCO general assembly at the end of the month for final approval.
The United States had urged all delegates to vote "no" at the general assembly, with its ambassador to the Paris-based body, David Killion, saying that "granting the Palestinians full membership now in a specialized agency such asUNESCO is premature".
The US provides 22 percent of UNESCO’s budget but was in the clear minority on the 58-member UNESCO executive board, which voted 40-4, including Spain, with 14 abstentions in favor of the recommending the Palestinian bid. Apart from the US, only Latvia, Germany and Romania voted against.
The chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and the chairwoman of the House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, Texas Republican Kay Granger, have raised strong objections to the UNESCO vote.
Both lawmakers have called for cutting off US funding for any UN entity that recognizes the Palestinians.
"Since April, I have made it clear to the Palestinian leadership that I would not support sending US taxpayer money to the Palestinians if they sought statehood at the United Nations, Granger said.
"Feeling that their efforts at the UN Security Council will fail, the Palestinian leadership is shopping around the UN system for recognition," Ros-Lehtinen said. "This attempt to rig the process needs to be stopped dead in its tracks."
Ambassador Killion said it was "inappropriate" for UNESCO to consider Palestine as a recognised member, while the United Nations Security Council was reviewing a Palestinian request for statehood recognition.
This request, which Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 23, will likely be voted on in the coming weeks.
The United States wields a veto on the Security Council, and has said it will veto any statehood bid before Palestine comes to an agreement with Israel over their longstanding territorial standoff.
But no power has a veto on the UNESCO committee, and Washington's "no" vote in Paris was not enough to halt the motion. Palestinian leaders have said they are under enormous diplomatic pressure to abandon their candidacy.
Spain, however, said it would likely back the executive committee's recommendation.
"The government anticipates that it will vote in favour of this recommendation during the general assembly, if the vote takes place and no common European position has been reached," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Earlier in the day France, which abstained on the motion, said "it was not the time" for Palestine to pursue UNESCO backing, calling instead for a return to talks with Israel on a final peace settlement.
France has proposed a compromise measure whereby Palestine would be granted the status of an "observer state" at UN headquarters in New York.
Israeli on Wednesday lashed out at both the Palestinians and UNESCO for a move it said ran against the peace process.
"The decision to grant the Palestinians membership of UNESCO will not advance their desire for an independent state whatsoever," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
UNESCO membership would not only be a diplomatic feather in Palestine's cap -- it would allow it to apply to classify its monuments as World Heritage Sites at a time when the heritage of much of the region is under dispute.
To nail down their first victory, the Palestinians will need the backing of two thirds of UNESCO's 193 member states in a vote on October 25 in Paris. Until then, they retain their observer status.