US withdraws from UNESCO after Palestinian approval

I first read about this news in a piece that appeared yesterday in the NY Times, "Unesco Accepts Palestinians as Full Members."

This article struck me as so timely considering our discussion tomorrow of UNESCO and other like-minded organizations. What impact do you think the withdrawal of US funding will have on UNESCO's preservation aims? I wonder if UNESCO was "caught in the middle" of US/Palestinian/Israeli negotiations, or is being actively utilized as a mediator by the organization's participants.