BICOM

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday attended the flag raising ceremony for the Palestinian flag at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Around 50 diplomats attended the ceremony, where Abbas hoisted the flag to the sound of the Palestinian anthem in the background. “It is moving to see our flag raised and for it to be flying in this beautiful city of Paris among all the other states. This bodes well for Palestine becoming a member of other international institutions,” Abbas told the UNESCO ambassadors.

The Palestinians were granted membership to UNESCO, the UN cultural organisation, in October as part of Abbas’ campaign to seek full membership for the Palestinians at the United Nations. In response, the US cut off funding to the UN cultural organisation.

The US and Israel are opposed to Abbas’ approach for unilateral statehood and have called on the Palestinians to enter direct negotiations to reach a peace agreement.

The Israeli embassy in Paris responded to the flag raising ceremony with the following statement: “Israel regrets that an organisation responsible for education and science was at the heart of making a decision based on science fiction, by integrating an entity that has no legal status as a state.”

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Representatives of the Quartet — the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations — began two days of meetings in Jerusalem yesterday in an effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.