An anticipated vote by UNESCO member states on whether to accept the Palestinian territories as a full member has sparked debate in the United States over two pieces of legislation requiring the country to completely cut off funding for any U.N. entity that grants membership to the Palestinians.
Some groups, including the U.N. Foundation, have launched an awareness campaign about the risks to U.S. national interests posed by the laws, which were passed in 1991 and 1994, while some conservative organizations such as the American Enterprise think tank argue some of the concerns regarding the laws are overblown, Colum Lynch writes on the Foreign Policy’s “Turtle Bay” blog.
U.N. Foundation President Timothy Wirth noted that the implications of withdrawing U.S. support for UNESCO and other entities that would approve Palestinian applications for membership are “really dangerous” for both the United States and the United Nations. He argued U.N. organizations and agencies that could be affected include those that establish rules protecting foreign operations in various industries such as music and medicines.
“Is it really in the United States’ interest to have the threat of our being thrown out of these important commercial agreements?” Wirth said, according to Lynch.
Lynch says Wirth’s position is echoed by Peter Robinson of the U.S. Council for International Business, who added that U.S. withdrawal from U.N. entities as mandated by law could signal a retreat from multilateral organizations.
Danielle Pletka, meanwhile, of the American Enterprise Institute have argued that concerns over the laws and the withdrawal of the United States from some U.N. entities are overblown. She did recognize that defending organizations such as the International Atomic Agency could hurt the organization as well as U.S. interests.
But “there are consequences to playing fast and loose, even in the international community. This is, at best, a supremely political quest by the Palestinians,” she said, as quoted by Lynch.
Brett Schaefer of the conservative-leaning think tank the Heritage Foundation chimed in that the laws should be enforced because they provide the United States the opportunity to effectively halt the Palestinian’s campaign for independent statehood at the United Nations, Lynch notes.
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