“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned at the decisions announced by the government of Israel in response to the decision of UNESCO’s General Conference in favor of Palestinian membership,” Ban’s press office said in a statement.
The statement reiterated the UN position that settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory is “contrary to international law” and would undermine efforts aimed at resuming moribund peace talks between the two sides.
The White House said earlier on Wednesday that it was “deeply disappointed” by the Israeli decision.
The European Union has also criticized Israel’s decision on Tuesday to speed Jewish settlement building and withhold Palestinian Authority funds, moves likely to further hold up efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Ban urged Israel to “freeze all settlement activity and to continue to transfer VAT (value-added tax) and customs revenues that belong to the Palestinian Authority and are essential to enable it to function, in line with Israel’s obligations.”
Ban also said he was worried about UNESCO’s finances after Washington announced that it would no longer provide funds to the UN cultural agency.
The United States, which supplies 22 percent of UNESCO’s funding, said on Monday it would cancel a planned $60 million transfer to the agency in protest over the vote by member states of UNESCO to admit the Palestinians as a full member.
“The decision was the prerogative of member states, and he (Ban) wishes to work with them on practical solutions to preserve UNESCO’s financial resources,” the statement said.
The US State Department has said it had to halt its funding due to laws prohibiting funding any UN organization that grants full membership to any group that does not have “internationally recognized attributes” of statehood.
