Palestine joins Chemical Weapons Convention and 2 UN agencies despite threat of US funding cuts

Palestine has joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and two UN agencies, despite a threat of US funding cuts, AFP reports. Palestine has the status of a non-member observer state at the UN, allowing it to seek membership of agencies and become a party to international treaties. Nickolay Mladenov, the UN coordinator for the Middle East, told the Security Council that Palestine had joined the Geneva-based UN trade organization UNCTAD, Vienna-based industrial development agency UNIDO and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The envoy did not address whether the decision will have an impact on funding from the US for these agencies and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).