Palestinian UNESCO membership continuation of UN independence bid

Israeli and Palestinian analysts are holding different views over a bid by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to obtain full membership of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The membership request comes after September's move by PNA President Mahmoud Abbas to upgrade the Palestinian delegation's UN status to that of an independent state. Israel and the United States oppose the bid and argue that independence can only come after a negotiated peace agreement. The UN Security Council is currently reviewing Abbas' request. However, Washington has stated that it would use its veto should a vote be held. "The PNA and Abbas want to get as much recognition as possible, so that it would make it easier for them in a broader UN context. And they already have UNESCO's recognition," Prof. Gerald Steinberg of Bar-Ilan University told Xinhua. "It's part of the same campaign (as the efforts to get full UN membership), and Israel finds this extremely disturbing. Because it's avoiding negotiations and will not bring peace; it will aggravate the conflict," Steinberg added. On the other hand, Palestinian analyst Hani al Masri said the UNESCO bid "shows us that Palestinian leadership wants to continue the new policy because the negotiations are still in a deadlock." Al Masri defended Abbas' move, saying that it's the only way forward, citing what he viewed as an "unlikely prospect" of resuming peace negotiations in the near future. HISTORY AND FACTS UNESCO's General Conference will be held in Paris next week, and its 193 members will then vote on whether or not to accept the PNA, a vote that require a two-thirds majority. One of the most well-known aspects of UNESCO's work is the designation of world heritage sites by nominating internationally recognized cultural and religious landmarks and natural locales that have an outstanding universal value. Steinberg said that full Palestinian membership in the international body "is particularly sensitive, because it deals with cultural, heritage, religious and other sites." "If the Palestinians and others are able to use UNESCO as a base for promoting their historical depiction - that will also have very deep impacts," he said. Israel fears that Palestinians will try to change the status or religious affiliation of numerous sites in the West Bank to Arab or Muslim focus. However, what Israel might see as efforts to change history is viewed by al Masri as initiative to improve Palestinian negotiating positions in future talks. "We must collect any cards we can to reach our goals," al Masri said, "because Israel has built new facts on the ground and we don 't have anything to prevent them, so we changed our position because negotiations without strength are nothing." "Facts on the ground" is a term often used by Israel in reference to settlements built in the West Bank - Biblical Judea and Samaria - and how they affect possible borders of a future Palestinian state. CLASHING PERSPECTIVES One of the reasons that Israel is so opposed to Palestinians' UNESCO membership is that many of the area the organization deals with are vital to the identity and self-image of both sides, said Prof. Oren Yiftachel of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. "UNESCO does deal with archeology that is connected to (Israeli and Palestinian) identity, so there is an added concern," Yiftachel said. The debate over history and roots is not new to the conflict. Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Abbas of "blatantly distorting known historical facts" after the Palestinian leader wrote an op-ed for New York Times in May. In the article Abbas wrote that "in November 1947, the General Assembly made its recommendation and answered in the affirmative. Shortly thereafter, Zionist forces expelled Palestinian Arabs to ensure a decisive Jewish majority in the future state of Israel, and Arab armies intervened. War and further expulsion ensued." Netanyahu argued that Abbas failed to mention that when UN suggested a partition plan to separate the British Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state, the Arabs rejected it and went to war with Israel the day after its independence.