US Cuts Funding For UNESCO After Palestinian Vote

[Purveyor]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

By BRADLEY KLAPPER, Associated Press – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is cutting off funding for the U.N. cultural agency because it approved a Palestinian bid for full membership.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says Monday's vote triggers a long-standing congressional restriction on funding to U.N. bodies that recognize Palestine as a state before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached.

Nuland says UNESCO's decision was "regrettable, premature and undermines our shared goal to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace" between Israelis and Palestinians.

She says the U.S. would refrain from making a $60 million payment it planned to make in November.

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