Johm Ryan,

'though I see you have a friend as well now'
if you are refering to prompete you've missed Singer's previous only supporter the self professed racist and alleged mysognist (althought there is massive doubt about the alledged)Lego.

Expect his unbecoming appearance in due course.

Ah yes how could I forget that even village propaganda idiots have friends

David. csteele had a good point in challenging the actual substance of your original post on this subject. Your reponce:

"To get admitted as a member under article II (2) - the state needs a two thirds majority vote. There are 194 members in UNESCO and so a majority of 129 is needed. Palestine got 107.

To get admitted as an associate member under article II (3)- the applicant needs a two thirds majority of the members present and voting. Had Palestine applied for associate mebership the 107 votes would have been sufficient."

As I understand it, Palestine would need recognition as a legally constituted and 'recognised' state before it could be admitted subject to article II (2). Without this status admission would only be possible through article II (3) ?

Surely it would be in the best interests of the Palestinian peoples to pursue the path of
Legitimate statehood and then make application through the 'usual' channels.
I too would like to see the legitimacy of two states with peace and security assured both.

To Prompete

I have only been addressing the constitutional issues concerning the number of votes required for Palestine's admission to UNESCO up to now.

I agree with you that there are serious questions to be answered as to whether Palestine even qualifies to be admitted to UNESCO since in my view it is not a State within the meaning of the criteria set out in the Montevideo Convention.

The UNESCO Constitution required the Executive Board to first recommend the admission of Palestine before the contoversial vote in the General Conference was taken.

I can only assume at this stage that the Executive Board decided Palestine qualified as a State to enable its application to go to the vote at the General Conference.

On 2 December last I asked UNESCO to supply me with a copy of the Executive Board's recommendation to the General Conference and any reports that formed part of that recommendation.

UNESCO has so far not supplied me with copies.

Cover up? Arrogance? - I don't know why access to these documents should be denied.

Just another reason to sign my petition to get a review of what went on.

Anyone can log on to and sign the petition here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/unesco-review-palestines-unconstitutional-membership

$225 million in lost funds until 2013 - to help tens of millions of people world wide - could hinge on what comes out of such a review.

Apparently UNESCO - and some vocal OLO readers - are happy to see these global victims offered up as sacrificial lambs to avoid a review of a decision which could well be unlawful if looked at by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

That is not my view.

Ulis,

"I can not believe the printing of two pro Israeli articles back to back without a single word from the Palestinian side"
I can,
If you consult the archives, you would see that David Singer's pro-Zionist propaganda 'articles' have appeared regularly on this site for months, expressions of pro-Palestinian opinion are very rare indeed.

On reflection, I think that we've been wrong to treat this drivel seriously and to 'give it oxygen'.

Ah the international court of justice,now this is a new one from our Israeli propaganda spouting friend,would this be the same court that has or had arrest warrants out for more than a few Israeli leaders,wonder what you were saying about it then David,bet it was not very nice.
Until Israel withdraws all the illegal settlements which means ALL of them and goes back to the 1967 lines things are just going to get worse,you are supporting a racist semi fascist state old son,you think the Arabs are racist,quite a few of your own side are as well.
Ah those Russians and US settlers then we have a PM in Israel who is a renowned liar and the mad religious right,get to the back of the bus woman,if an Arab said that incandescent rage from the Israeli lobby, but because its a religious Israelis silence,we await your usual thing I,m anti Semitic but as far as I know the Arabs are a Semitic people as well.
I believe that there was a book written that casts doubt over the whole racial make up of the state,and allso some archeology has found that both Arabs and Jews descended from common ancestors in that part of the world,now if that's true where does that leave you David