Palestinians ask Unesco for seat at Paris meeting

Unesco's Leaders' Forum in Paris (26 Oct 2011) Unesco's 193 members are more likely than the UN Security Council to accept the Palestinian membership bid
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Palestinian UN membership bid

* Q&A: Bid explained
* Palestinians score points at UN
* Showdown at UN
* Israeli view

Palestinian leaders are asking for Palestine to be admitted as a member of the UN cultural and scientific organisation, Unesco, at a vote in Paris on Monday.

Israel is strongly against the move.

The US has said it will cut funding to Unesco if the bid is approved.

The Palestinian move is aimed at gaining momentum ahead of a UN Security Council vote in November on whether Palestine should become a full United Nations member state.

Membership of Unesco - perhaps best known for its World Heritage Sites - may seem a strange step towards statehood, says the BBC's Jon Donnison, in Ramallah, but Palestinian leaders see it as part of a broader push to get international recognition and put pressure on Israel.
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Palestinian UN Statehood Bid

* Palestinians currently have permanent observer entity status at the UN
* They are represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)
* Officials now want an upgrade so a state of Palestine has full member status at the UN
* They seek recognition on 1967 borders - in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza
* Enhanced observer member status could be an interim option

Funding at stake

The move comes a month after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked for Palestine to become a full UN member state.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on that bid in November. The United States has said it will use its veto.

But at Unesco, the US does not have veto power and Palestinian membership would likely be approved by the organisation's 193 members.

"We believe this is counterproductive... The only path for the Palestinians is through direction negotiations," US Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter told 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 Palestine as a full member.

That amounts to $70m (£43.7m) a year - over 20% of Unesco's entire budget.
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