US 'could withdraw funding from UN if Palestine state is recognised'

US 'could withdraw funding from UN if Palestine state is recognised' 
The US could withdraw funding from the United Nations if its members decide to    
recognise and independent Palestinian state, a close ally of President    Barack 
Obama has warned. 

 
Miss Rice said the Obama administration was devoting 'extraordinary efforts and 
energy' to restarting middle-eastern peace talks Photo: AFP
By Jon Swaine, New York and Adrian Blomfield
6:21PM BST 24 Jun 2011
Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the UN, said there was "no greater 
threat" to US    support and funding of the UN than the prospect of Palestinian 
statehood    being endorsed by member states. 

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian authority, plans to ask the UN 
general assembly, which comprises all 192    members, to vote on recognition at 
its annual meeting in New York in    September. 

The US and Israel are pressing Mr Abbas to drop his plans. Mr Obama has    
strongly opposed the move, raising the prospect of a veto in the UN Security    
Council, which is expected to vote on a Palestinian statehood proposal in    
July. 

But Palestinian officials have spoken of their determination to a circumvent a    
US veto by deploying a rarely used Cold War mechanism known as "Uniting    for 
Peace" under which a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly    can override 
the Security Council. 

Although Palestinians believe they are close to securing such a majority, the    
General Assembly does not have the power to confer UN membership on a new    
Palestinian state, meaning that a successful vote would represent little    more 
than a symbolic triumph. 

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Jun 2011 

Even so, Republicans in the US Congress are promising to react aggressively to    
any approval of statehood. Two congressmen have already vowed to initiate    
bills to withdraw UN funding in the House of Representatives. 

Such a development could be devastating to the UN. The US provides almost a    
quarter of its $2.5 billion (£1.6 billion) annual budget, making a yearly    
contribution of almost $600 million (£375 million). 

Speaking at an event in Washington, Miss Rice said the Obama administration    
was devoting "extraordinary efforts and energy" to restarting    middle-eastern 
peace talks so that a vote in September could be avoided. 

On the prospect of it being approved, she said: "This would be    exceedingly 
politically damaging in our domestic context, as you can well    imagine. 

"And I cannot frankly think of a greater threat to our ability to    maintain 
financial and political support for the United Nations in Congress    than such 
an outcome". 

A video of Miss Rice making the comments has been removed from the internet. 
Attempting to play down their significance, a spokesman for the ambassador    
said: "These were informal remarks in a domestic setting." 

The US is desperate to avoid being put into a position of having to wield its    
veto. With growing international support for Palestinian statehood, even in    
Europe, the US is looking increasingly isolated in its support for Israel    and 
a veto would badly damage Mr Obama's credentials in a rapidly changing    Middle 
East. 

But the president faces a politically damaging backlash from the pro-Israeli    
lobby and its many supporters in Congress if he does not block a resolution,    
a move that could also cost all-important Jewish votes in key swing states    
like Florida during next year's presidential election. 

Mr Obama has already angered the Israeli government and its US supporters by    
calling for a Palestinian state that roughly corresponds to the existing    
boundaries of the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel occupied after the Six    Day 
war of 1967. 

The move was intended to rejuvenate the stalled Middle East peace process. 
But Palestinian officials, in public at least, say they remain committed to a    
UN vote as the only realistic way of breaking the deadlock. 

Western powers have backed a two-year Palestinian state-building programme    
that reaches fruition at the end of August. It has already been judged a    
success by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and Palestinian    
officials say it would be hypocritical for the West to back the    
state-building exercise but not its "logical outcome". 

Britain has indicated that it would not join the US in vetoing Palestinian    
statehood in the Security Council. But David Cameron is also hoping to avert    
a highly divisive vote in the general assembly. 

"The question is whether we can do anything that might deflect the    
Palestinians from going ahead with this," a British diplomatic source    said. 

Some Palestinian officials have conceded in private that they do not want to    
fall out with Mr Obama and are working on ways to resume peace talks with    
Israel and postpone a statehood vote.