Palestinians Get UNESCO Membership

UNESCO, the UN cultural organization, voted to admit Palestine as a member, 107 to 14.  This was followed by the United States cutting US funding to UNESCO.  According to the BBC article:

A US law passed in the 1990s bars giving funding to any UN body that admits the Palestinians as full members before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached.

My question is: then why does the US fund Israel when there is no peace deal?

Internet service and some phone service was down in Gaza and the West Bank today, thanks to hackers.

BBC News has a guide to the Palestinian membership bid.

Russia Recognizes Palestine

President Medvedev said that Russia would continue to support a Palestinian state, the same as the Soviet Union did in 1988.  Israeli is downplaying the matter.  Medvedev met with the king of Jordan after trying to visit Israel.  Also, apparently Lebanon put a resolution condemning Israeli settlements before the UN Security Council.  And since the US is trying to support Hariri, they may have a hard time vetoing it.  Will Spain be the next country to recognize Palestine?

Human Rights Day

Today is International Human Rights Day.  There's a good opinion piece in Haaretz about the human rights problems going on in Israel.  There have been a lot of civil and/or human rights issues in the news lately, so consider this a Salute to Human Rights Activists world-wide.  Keep up the good work!

Flotilla Investigation Update III: UN Decides Against Israel

Yes, the UN group set up to investigate Israel's actions in the Flotilla Attack has decided that Israel violated international law and could be prosecuted.  The Israelis, of course, are saying that the findings are biased.  This is fairly typical of how Israel responds to anything it doesn't like.  If you're not with Israel, then you're an anti-Semite.  Forget those pesky facts, they don't matter.  Israel is the perpetual victim in any actions affecting that nation.  Even when they invade Lebanon or kill Palestinian children:  they had to do it to protect themselves.

Flotilla Investigation Update II

Remember the UN set up a panel to investigate the flotilla attack? The UN says they may have to question Israeli soldiers, but Israel doesn't like that. So they are threatening to pull out of the investigation. But according to Haaretz, the UN was told they couldn't question the soldiers and agreed, although Bank Ki-moon is saying he never agreed that that was completely off-limits. So it's a giant mess.

Flotilla Investigation Update

The UN has decided to investigate the flotilla incident. And apparently an official in the Israeli foreign ministry thinks that the UN Rights Council is biased against Israel. I can understand a country not wanting to have an outside commission come in and investigate. But in a case involving several countries, it makes sense to have an outside view, instead of just the view of one country (Israel).

And Israel will probably announce soon that it will not cooperate with the investigation.

Women's News

BBC News has an article called "Inside the radio station helping Egyptian divorcees." Apparently there are more divorces now in Egypt, since the law was changed to allow a woman to ask for a divorce without the husband agreeing. There's still a stigma attached to divorced women, but radio shows, magazines, and clubs are helping these women make the decision and learn to live with it.

Apparently there is a group called the "International Women’s Commission for a Just and Sustainable Israeli-Palestinian Peace." They are calling for an end to the Gaza blockade, and a 2-state solution.

No Ahmadinejad at UN

Iran is claiming it's because the US wouldn't give his entourage any visas to enter the country. That's nothing new. Since the UN is on US soil, it's a good way to keep people out when you want to - don't give them a visa. Personally, I think it's a little passive aggressive and tacky. The whole purpose of the UN is to give people a chance to fight with words instead of missiles. We're not necessarily going to love every single person who goes to speak at the UN.

UPDATE: The US is saying they did approve the visas, and Ahmadinejad is just weaseling out of the situation.

UN Women

The UN just sent some new peacekeepers to Liberia. The neat thing is . . . they're all women! It's an all-female unit from India. Personally, I think that is fantastic. Check out the article from BBC News.