Fallout From UNESCO Vote May Cost Abbas Swing Votes In UN Security Council

The Palestinians being voted in as a member of UNESCO was supposed to be big victory--strengthening Palestinian claims as they look to get UN recognition.

On the other hand, the admission into UNESCO may cost Abbas the very votes he needs in the UN Security Council:

Among the more than 52 countries that abstained from voting in Unesco, there were three critical Security Council members -- Portugal, Colombia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. That is a blow for Abbas, who had been courting them personally for months to try to gain the upper hand in the 15-member council.


In more bad news for Abbas, the three leaders representing the Muslims, Croats and Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina met yesterday and failed to reach a unified position to support the Palestinians’ UN application.

That leaves the Palestinians one vote short of the nine needed in the Security Council to approve the application for full UN membership. Reaching that number would represent a moral victory and force the U.S. to use its veto to block Palestinian membership.

Instead, as things stand, the Palestinians can still only count on eight council members -- Russia, China, Gabon, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Lebanon and India -- to vote yes.

While Abbas claims he has enough votes for a 2/3 majority in the UN General Assembly, UNESCO is similar in makeup--and those 52 abstentions were a lot more than expected, even with the 107-14 vote.

There may come a point that, regardless of personal agendas, other countries may just get tired of the pseudo-state of Palestine.

Technorati Tag: Palestine and UNESCO.