US stops payments to UNESCO over Palestinian vote

The United States said Monday it is stopping financial contributions to UNESCO after the Palestinians were admitted to the organization as a full member.We were to have made a 60 million dollar payment to UNESCO in November and we will not be making that payment, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.She said the Palestinian admission triggers longstanding (US) legislative restrictions which will compel the United States to refrain from making contributions to UNESCO.The United States, Israels top ally, in the 1990s banned the financing of any United Nations organization that accepts Palestine as a full member. The United States provides about 22 percent of its annual budget.Nuland echoed earlier remarks by the White House which said UNESCOs admission of the Palestinians as a full member was premature and undermined international peace efforts and hopes of direct talks on a Palestinian state.The vote is regrettable, premature and undermines our shared goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, Nuland said.The vote, backed by 107 countries in the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization, was a symbolic victory for the Palestinian drive towards full statehood recognition.But the United States, which has vowed to block a separate Palestinian call for statehood recognition at the United Nations, believes the campaign detracts from tough bargaining needed with Israel on the terms of a Palestinian state.