The Palestinian Authority (PA) plans to use its successful bid for non-member observer status at last month’s General Assembly as a launching pad to gain membership of other key international organisations, Israeli daily Maariv reported.
According to the report, the Palestinian leadership is targeting joining groups including the UN Environment Programme and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in direct defiance of calls from across the international community for it to refrain from pursuing unilateral action in response to the UNGA vote.
Despite close Israeli ally Italy’s surprise vote in favour of Palestinian statehood, a statement by the Italian foreign ministry in the aftermath appeared to rule out a clause in the general assembly’s resolution that said the Security Council would “consider favourably” a Palestinian bid for full UN membership, which would constitute an effective unilateral declaration of statehood refused by the council last year, as it conceded that whilst the vote constituted an encouragement for the Palestinians to choose a path “against extremism”, it was not in its view a move toward unilateral statehood, as full membership of the UN could only be achieved “through negotiation and direct agreement between the parties”.
Reiterating Italy’s abiding “strong and traditional friendship toward Israel”, which has seen the European nation head off criticism by the EU foreign affairs council in recent times, the foreign office confirmed Prime Minister Mario Monti gave his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu “Italy’s firm commitment to avoid any manipulation that could unduly lead Israel, which has a right to ensure its own security, before the International Criminal Court”.
Whilst Belgium similarly voted in favour of the resolution, its delegation to the UN insisted that its unequivocal passing did not amount to recognition of a State in full terms. In Belgium’s view, there was no alternative to negotiations, difficult as they may be. Priority should be placed on a swift resumption of peace talks. Israel and the Palestinian Authority must both refrain from any unilateral act that would compromise the credibility of the peace process, and “the peace process must move faster”. Calling for a swift resumption of the peace talks, he said that the parties must be brought to the same table.
Ahead of the UNGA vote, British Foreign Secretary William Hague appeared to pre-empt an Israeli backlash to the PA bid, as he reiterated the UK’s entreaties to PA President Mahmoud Abbas “not to move a resolution at the UN General Assembly for the time being”. Britain’s eventual abstention from the critical vote, he surmised, could only be motivated by “our concern that the resolution could set the peace process back”, he added.
US Ambassador to the UN Susan E. Rice meanwhile expressed America’s continued opposition to “any and all unilateral actions in international bodies or treaties that circumvent or prejudge the very outcomes that can only be negotiated, including Palestinian statehood”, pledging America’s commitment to supporting Israeli security as she warned those celebrating the Palestinian victory that it “does not establish that Palestine is a state”, nor lead one step closer to inevitable membership of the UN.
The biggest obstacle preventing Palestinian accession to the four reported targeted bodies is likely to be the US, which contributes approximately 22% of their collective budgets. In the aftermath of the PA’s failed bid for UN statehood at last year’s General Assembly, it successfully petitioned for membership of UNESCO (the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) despite US and Israeli opposition which in turn saw UNESCO lose an estimated 80 million dollars in US backing in protest.