German opposition blasts Berlin's anti-Palestinian UNESCO vote

Berlin, Nov 2, IRNA - German's opposition lambasted the Merkel government for voting against Palestine's membership in the UNESCO, branding it a 'fiasco,' media reports said Tuesday. Germany's opposition parties, comprised of Social Democrats, Greens and The Left, called Berlin's anti-Palestinian UNESCO vote embarrassing. Talking to German television, the deputy head of the Social Democratic faction, Gernot Erler stressed the German stance on the issue was 'an absolute disaster.' He made clear his country was 'rather isolated worldwide' on the matter. Palestine became UNESCO's 195th member on Monday, after 107 member states attending a general conference in Paris voted in favour of upgrading the Palestinians' status from observer to full member. Fourteen countries, among them the US, the Zionist regime, Germany and the Netherlands, voted against and 52 abstained, giving the Palestinian application the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. Meanwhile, the foreign policy spokeswoman of the Green faction, Kerstin Mueller said Germany was 'mainly responsible' for Europe's lack of unity on the issue. The foreign policy expert of The Left party, Wolfgang Gehrcke lamented the fact that Berlin's Middle East policy was becoming 'more and more confusing.' A die-hard ally of the Zionist regime, Germany has not only refused to support Palestine's independence bid in the UN but has also actively sabotaged it. /end