Redefinition of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region began within just a few years, when Greece and Turkey were transferred to the Europe region. Territories in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula joined the Eastern Mediterranean region during the 1950s. Morocco preferred to be assigned to Europe following its independence (in 1956), shifting to the Eastern Mediterranean only as recently as 1986. Ethiopia was moved to the Africa region in 1977; Algeria followed in 1984.

Israel entered WHO in 1949, but the Arab League refused to cooperate with Israel, a conflict that was finally resolved in 1985 by transferring Israel to the Europe region. The PLO applied for membership in WHO in 1989, but the U.S. threatened to cut funding to WHO and financial aid to any country supporting the PLO’s application. As of 2005, Palestine had not been accepted as a WHO member.

Sources: Handbook of Resolutions and Decisions of the World Health Assembly and the Executive Board, Volume 2, 1973-1984 (Geneva: WHO, 1985), 254; Handbook of Resolutions and Decisions of the World Health Assembly and the Executive Board, Volume 3, 1985-1989, 2nd ed. (Geneva: WHO, 1990), 96; Javed Siddiqi, World Health and World Politics: The World Health Organization and the UN System (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), chs. 11, 13, 16; "Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean," World Health Organization, http://www.who.int/about/ regions/emro/en/index.html