WHO Puts Membership of PLO on Indefinite Hold

The World Health Organization today indefinitely deferred a bid by the PL0’s self-declared State of Palestine to become a full voting member, averting the threat of a withdrawal of U.S. funds.

The U.N. agency’s annual assembly adopted a resolution sponsored by 28 West European, Third World and moderate Arab countries that urged WHO’s director-general, Hiroshi Nakajima, to “continue his studies” on the membership bid and to report back “at an appropriate time.”

By not setting a deadline, the 167-nation assembly in effect indefinitely postponed consideration of the PLO’s bid.

The measure also urged the health organization to continue a special health program to help Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories.

The agreement was a diplomatic victory for the United States and a new blow for the PLO’s campaign to gain universal recognition as an independent state by becoming a full member of international agencies. The PLO currently has non-voting observer status with the World Health Organization.

More than 100 countries, many in the Third World, have recognized the Palestinian state declared by the PLO’s parliament-in-exile in November, 1988. This roughly encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The United States, backed by most Western countries, maintains that the PLO is not entitled to full membership in U.N. organizations because it fails to meet internationally recognized criteria of statehood, including control of territory.

Washington is pledged to contribute $78 million to the health organization this year, or 25% of the agency’s regular budget. It is also a major funder of other organization programs, including the campaign against AIDS.

U.S. officials said a cutoff of U.S. funds would be “devastating,” and Nakajima had warned that all major programs, such as the fight against tropical diseases, would have to be slashed.