Palestinian flag to fly at Unesco
Photo/AFP
Delegates applaud following the vote, which admitted Palestinians to enter UNESCO as a full member on October 31, 2011 at the headquarters of the organization in Paris.
PARIS, Sunday
The Palestinian flag will be hoisted on Tuesday at Unesco headquarters, over a month after its admission to the UN cultural agency sparked anger and reprisals from the United States and Israel.
President Mahmud Abbas will travel to Paris to attend the event, which led Washington to pull funding to the UN organisation, and which is seen by many as a step on the Palestinians’ road to eventual UN membership.
“President Abbas wants to show the importance he attaches to Unesco,” said a Palestinian diplomat. “And this is the first time that the flag will be flown at the headquarters of a UN institution.”
Symbolic ceremony
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation says the flag-hoisting is a symbolic ceremony “to mark Palestine’s admission to the organisation”.
The Palestinians were admitted to the body in late October, when the Unesco general assembly voted 107-14 to make Palestine its 195th member.
The result angered the United States, Israel’s staunch ally, which says the Palestinians must first reach a peace agreement with Israel before they can become full members of an international organisation.
Washington immediately suspended its funding to the UN body, which selects and oversees World Heritage sites and also works in areas from literacy and media freedom to science and environmental issues.
(AFP)
