Alwaght- The US Department of State said last week it will withdraw from the UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, in solidarity with the Israel after the organization passed two resolutions condemning the regime's violations against Palestinians and occupation of their lands.
There are several reasons behind US withdrawal, with the most apparent of them being the administration of President Trump's closer relationship with Tel Aviv in comparison to his predecessor Barack Obama. The relations between the two look so crucial this time that the White House is poised to risk the American seat at the UNESCO, which is under clear US influence, for their protection.
The move comes in reaction to the cultural organization’s passing of two resolutions one calling Palestine an “occupied state” and the other related to the “Palestine's cultural and educational institutions.” As the first one’s title may vividly express, the bill identified Tel Aviv as an “occupying power” and asserted full support for the historical Muslim identity of holy sites such as the al-Aqsa Mosque and called it a Palestinian property. The resolutions were mainly approved to protect the Holy city of al-Quds (Jerusalem) from the gradual Israeli destruction, as they eye curbing further Israeli seizure of the Palestinian sites.
Furthermore, the UNESCO bills condemned the Israeli demolition of the ancient and holy sites as a trick to occupying more Palestinian territories. The analysts maintain that Washington and Tel Aviv, which also said it will exit from UNESCO, are taking the measures as they find the international steps running counter to the Israeli violations against the Palestinians. The international organization, for example, condemned the Israeli regime’s illegal activities such as digging tunnels in old parts of al-Quds and beneath the al-Aqsa Mosque. UNESCO also blasted the Israeli rejection to allow the body's permanent representative to reside in al-Quds, where he could gather information from the city’s historic sites.
The US has made a series of withdrawals or threatened to do so from the international treaties since the beginning of Trump administration. This has become a usual foreign policy of the White House, as it appears. The US in early June announced exit from the Paris climate pact that was reached in April 2016. The UNESCO withdrawal is the second measure of this kind. Trump has also threatened to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCOPA). After these steps, any country that signs a deal with the US should take into account the pact may be scrapped in near future. Many analysts argue that the American abandonment of the international treaties showed true colors of the US, and specifically Trump, as an actor with no commitment to the international or even bilateral agreements.
The outcome of debasement of the international community's pacts and organizations that come to existence as a result of many countries' cooperation is nothing but the global movement towards anarchy and disorder. The US, a constant promoter of the global order and management of the UN institutions like UNESCO, takes impairing actions against international organizations whenever bills do not guarantee Washington and its allies' interests. The behavior largely stems from the Washington's instrumental approach towards global institutions and international relations. For example, White House said that it will cease financial contribution to the UNESCO for the international body “anti-Israeli bias”, though the resolutions came in support of rights of the Palestinians against the illegal Israeli measures. The US and the Israeli regime have always tried to exercise influence on the international organizations through financial aids cessation or sometimes boycotting them if they choose to act independently and neutrally.
On the other side, approval of the pro-Palestinian resolutions at the UNESCO echoed the decline of the global American hegemony. One of the resolutions drew 22 yes votes against 10 opposite votes. The text of the resolutions itself bears witness to an intention of their presenters to take on the American and Israeli overbearing policies, as it signals American sway worldwide is shrinking.
The al-Quds-related resolution is a proof of the veracity of the Palestinian claims at the international organizations after years of resistance. International admission of Palestine occupation by the Israeli regime and recognition of al-Quds as an utterly Palestinian property throws cold water on the Israeli optimism about international support for its aggressive policy. The US withdrawal is seen as not an action but a reaction to the years-long Palestinian resistance, not driven by political rationalism but by frustration and anger at the failures.
