Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Abbas to UNESCO: It’s an Emotional, Historical Moment

PARIS, December 13, 2011 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday described the raising of the Palestinian flag at UNESCO headquarters in Paris as a historical and emotional moment.

Shortly after raising the flag making Palestine officially UNESCO member number 195, Abbas told the General Conference that “it is a historical and an emotional moment for me and my people to raise the Palestinian flag at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.”

UNESCO voted on October 31 to admit Palestine as full member, the first for a UN agency.

Abbas received a warm welcome and a standing ovation when he entered the hall and after he took to the podium of the General Conference to address UNESCO plenum.

It is a cause for pride that UNESCO, with its noble and humanitarian charter, programs and objectives, was the first international organization to admit Palestine a full member, said Abbas.

“Today the Palestinian state is a member of UNESCO, and we hope it will soon be a member of the United Nations, to live side by side in peace with Israel,” he said.

Abbas submitted an application on September 23 for full membership of the UN. However, strong US opposition had obstructed its membership.

“In the first years following the Nakba (1948 catastrophe), the Palestinian people resolved to education, culture and arts to preserve the Palestinian soul, memory, identity and national legacy in refugee camps and exile, after being uprooted from their land, and led to banishment and oblivion,” he said.

He stressed that during the successful process of building the Palestinian state institutions, education was a main priority, as well as all aspects of culture, arts and archeology, with the partnership and sponsorship of UNESCO.

He said that cultural, educational and historical marks in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron, will be preserved, renovated and protected to overcome the obstacles and hardship by the Israeli occupation, urging UNESCO to help in that.
Palestine News & Info Agency - WAFA

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