Palestine steps up effort to join global bodies

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Emboldened by their admission to the UN's cultural agency, the Palestinians plan to seek membership in other international bodies as part of their campaign for statehood.

They are also looking into a parallel and contradictory track: Having lost hope in peace talks with Israel, the Palestinians are threatening to dismantle their government in the West Bank - a move that would confront Israel with the uncomfortable prospect of directly ruling millions of Palestinians.

For now, though, the focus is on the UN. Elated by UNESCO's decision to grant them membership, jubilant Palestinian officials said on Tuesday that they wanted to seize the momentum and expand their presence at the UN.

"We have gotten a precedent that might open the road for us to join other agencies," said Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestine's envoy to the UN in Geneva. He said the Palestinians are now studying whether they can join 16 other UN agencies.

Palestinian officials said that after Monday's UNESCO vote, Palestinian Health Minister Fathi Abu Mughli was so excited that he rushed to the local offices of the World Health Organization to get information on joining.

The moves come as the Palestinians are increasingly seeking unilateral moves toward statehood that would bypass peace talks.

A key test of those efforts could come as soon as next week. Palestine has asked the UN Security Council to grant it full membership in the UN, and a vote is tentatively set for Nov 11.

The United States, as a permanent member of the powerful council, has promised to veto the request. But the Palestinians are still trying to rally the required nine-vote majority that would trigger the veto, believing that would give them a moral victory by placing the US at odds with most of the international community. It remains unclear whether the Palestinians can muster the votes.

If the Security Council bid fails, Palestine will instead seek the lesser status of a UN nonmember observer state, like the Vatican. This would require approval by the General Assembly, a virtual lock in a 193-member chamber dominated by pro-Palestinian developing countries.

Israel and the US have opposed the Palestinian attempts to win UN membership, saying that peace can only be reached through negotiations.

UN membership would not change the situation on the ground, but the strong international endorsement of the Palestinians' goals would isolate Israel and likely boost the Palestinian position should peace talks resume.

Omar Awadalla, who oversees UN affairs at the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, said experts are already hard at work assessing which UN bodies they will be eligible to join.

Officials believe that even as a nonmember state, Palestine could join influential international bodies such as the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Bank and the International Criminal Court.

Associated Press