Palestine the state

News in Brief

On 31 October, Palestine made another step forward towards international recognition when the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO) became the first UN body to accept Palestine as a member state, by a vote of 107 to 14.
The UK was among 52 countries to abstain. The US responded by cutting off its funding to UNESCO, currently amounting to $65m a year or 22% of the total UNESCO budget.

UNESCO, which promotes education and press freedom among other things, was forced to suspend all its activities and programmes, though it had no immediate plans for job cuts.