Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard rejected a plea from Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd for Australia to abstain in a vote on Palestine joining UNESCO; instead Gillard supported Israel and the US to oppose the proposal. Australia was one of 14 countries to vote against Palestine membership of the UN cultural organization UNESCO. 52 states abstained among them Britain, New Zealand and South Korea. Palestine gained membership with the backing of 107 members. The UNESCO vote has deepened the leadership split on Middle East policy in Australia. Despite Gillard not declaring Australia's vote, as of yet, either in favor or against Palestine's bid for statehood, commentators predict the vote will go against Palestine considering the UNESCO vote. “Her track record would suggest to me she would go against [Palestine],” said a close observer. Gillard has been a vocal supporter of Israel and has declared maintaining a strong backing of Israel as one of her foreign policy priorities. Support for Palestine is said to be important to Australia's chances of winning a Security Council seat in a ballot next year. Australia's rivals for the seat are Finland and Luxembourg, both of whom backed Palestine joining UNESCO. Following the Australia's vote against Palestine for membership at UNESCO, some observers are calling the chances of Australia winning a seat at the Security Council, dead. A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister in a written statement said “a negotiated peace” was the best way to achieve a Palestinian state. “We voted against the resolution because it is premature for a subsidiary body of the United Nations (such as UNESCO) to consider this matter while it is still being considered by the United Nations Security Council.” BM
