Executive summary
U.S. law prohibits funding UN “affiliated organizations” that accept the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a member state. In the past two years, the PA has been accepted into four such organizations, two of them in the past months. Yet thus far, none of these organizations have had their funding stopped.
This is part of the PA’s strategy of seeking a fait accompli of statehood through perceived recognition, rather than as the result of negotiations with Israel. Such international recognition only hardens Palestinian positions and encourages the Palestinians to make maximalist and unrealistic demands in the peace process, while politicizing the technical agencies involved.
This briefing paper shows how all the relevant bodies, that accepted the PA as a member state, qualify as UN “af filiated organizations” within the meaning of existing law. Indeed, these agencies are already treated as UN af filiates for purposes of other statutes. This briefing paper describes the U.S. statutory framework and the nature of the various organizations’ linkages to the UN. It concludes by discussing the anticipated counterarguments focused on the good works performed by the organizations.
