UNESCO promotes education and arts in developing countries, such as Afghanistan.

Palestinian membership could trigger a cut off in U.S. contributions to UNESCO, more than $70 million per year, about 20 percent of its budget.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said “The problem here is that a move in UNESCO is not going to create a Palestinian state that is secure, living next to Israel in security, in self-determination and in mutual recognition.”

Twenty years of talks with Israel have failed to produce a Palestinian state.

PLO representative Maen Rashid Areikat said “Going to the U.N. is a diplomatic, political, nonviolent, legitimate effort on the part of the Palestinians to have the U.N. address Palestinian concerns and once and for all put an end to the Israeli occupation.”

The Palestinians hope full membership in UNESCO and recognition of the Church of the Nativity as a World Heritage site will bring them closer to becoming an independent state.