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Thursday, December 26, 2013

"Palestine" threatens to join 63 international organizations if Jews build houses

PLO member Saeb Erekat has threatened that if Israel approves additional building in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, as has been rumored for next week, then the PLO will join 63 international organizations, including the International Criminal Court.

He said "We condemn this strongly and we would consider it as blowing up the peace process."

It has been pointed out that the ICC is not likely to want to rule on Jews building houses. Also, it appears that the PLO already had accepted the jurisdiction of the court in 2009, and its 2012 status as a non-voting member of the UN might mean that Erekat's main threat is baseless - it is already there.

I am wondering, however, what the other 62 organizations might be?

Well, it just so happens that Maldives is a member of exactly 63 international organizations. That list is probably a good approximation of the ones Erekat is referring to. Obviously the South Asia-specific organizations are not likely to be on Erekat's list, but the list does us an idea of what this threat actually is.

Get ready to tremble in fear:

1 World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
2 Bureau International des Expositions (BIE)
3 Asia Pacific Central Security Depositary Group (A.G.C)
4 Multilateral Investment Gurantee Agency (MIGA)
5 South Asian Insuarance Regulators Forum
6 Commonwealth Parliamentarian Association (CPA)
7 Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI)
8 World Customs Organization (WCO) (Also called Customs Cooperation Council)
9 World Trade Organization (WTO)
10 Global Environment Facility (GEF)
11 UNEP / INFORTERRA Network
12 Asian Youth Council
13 Association of Management Development Institution in South Asia (AMDISA)
14 World Assembly of Youth
15 Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union
16 Commonwealth of Learning (COL)
17 International Textile and Clothing Bureau
18 International Organization for Folk Art (lOFA)
19 United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO)
20 Unified Hijree Calender Committee
21 Inter-governmental Organization for Marketing Information and Technical Advisory Services for Fishing Products in the Asia & Pacific Region (INFOFISH)
22 Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
23 Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD)
24 Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC)
25 International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)
26 Airports Council International
27 Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development
28 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
29 International Finance Corporation (IFC)
30 Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP)
31 The Commonwealth: Full Membership
32 The Commonwealth: Special Membership
33 Asia Pacific Postal Union (APPU)
34 WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones
35 South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP)
36 World Tourism Organization (WTO)
37 UN/Ad-Hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean
38 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
39 Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT)
40 Islamic Development Bank (IDB)
41 International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD)
42 Indian Ocean Fishery Commission (IOFC)
43 World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
44 Asian Development Bank (ADB)
45 International Development Association (IDA)
46 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank)
47 International Monetary Fund (lMF)
48 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
49 Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
50 Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
51 International Civil Aviation Organization (lCAO)
52 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
53 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
54 United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
55 Universal Postal Union (UPU)
56 International Maritime Organization (lMO)
57 International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
58 World Health Organization (WHO)
59 United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
60 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
61 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
62 United Nations (UN)
63 Colombo Plan

PLO membership in most of these institutions is not likely to cause great concern (and it is already member of some.) When they try to politicize some of these - as they did with UNESCO - it could cause a backlash against them from Western countries who do not want to see these organizations turned into circuses.