The UN cultural organisation has voted strongly in favor of membership for the Palestinians - a move opposed by Israel and the United States. Out of 173 countries voting, 107 were in favour, with 14 opposed and more than 40 abstentions. Before the vote, the US said it would stop its funding to UNESCO if the Palestinians' bid was accepted.
Membership of the organization - which perhaps best known for its World Heritage sites - may seem a strange step towards statehood, but Palestinian leaders see it as part of a broader push to get international recognition and put pressure on Israel. The move comes a month after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked for Palestine to become a full UN member state.
"We believe this is counterproductive... The only path for the Palestinians is through direction negotiations," US Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter told UNESCO delegates ahead of the vote.
The Palestinian move has put Unesco in a bind. Following a US law passed in the 1990s, America says it would cut funding to any UN body that admitted a 'state of Palestine' as a full member. That amounts to US$ 70m a year - over 20 percent of UNESCO's entire budget.
