The Palestinian Authority is to push for membership of the United Nations' cultural organization despite strong opposition from the United States, Foreign Minister Riad Malki said in Ramallah on Saturday, DPA reported.
Speaking before leaving for Paris to attend the conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Malki said: "We will not agree to anything less than full membership at UNESCO.
UNESCO's executive board voted on October 6 to recommend Palestinian membership and the organization's 193-member general conference, which has been meeting in Paris since October 25, is expected to vote on Monday.
The US has threatened to block its annual UNESCO funding of 70 million dollars if Palestine becomes a member.
Malki told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA: "We will not accept defeat. This is unacceptable because if we succeed here, we will succeed in our efforts at the Security Council."
The Palestinians applied on September 23 for full UN membership, but the application has first to pass a Security Council vote. The US has said it will veto the application if it come up.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has also refused to back down on either UNESCO or UN membership.
"The battle over UNESCO membership is tough," Abbas said on Wednesday. "They told us if you become a member, the US will not pay one penny to UNESCO and that you will destroy it. We do not want to destroy UNESCO."
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