PA (Palestinian Authority) leader Abu Mazen is once again trying to create facts on the ground and advance PA statehood. During a visit to Greece he informed Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that he plans to stop using the name “Palestine Authority” and is going to change it to the “State of Palestine”.
Not appearing too anxious to renew talks with Israel towards reaching agreement that will lead to the establishment of a state, Abu Mazen once again prefers unilateral action to circumvent talks with Israel. Abu Mazen announced that the change will occur in 2016, and once known as the State of Palestine, new passports will be issued to residents. The PA leader predicts the move will take about one year, no more.
Speaking at an Athens press conference, he explained the current PA passports will be replaced with State of Palestine passports to make it official. The Greek parliament has voted unanimously to recognize the Palestinian state which is in line with the EU’s policy.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
Wonderful. We should let them leave on these passports, and not let them back in, as there is no such country, and the passports are invalid.
Issuing “Palestinian” passports may in the end be more declarative than actually used as documents to facilitate crossing international borders. Because as long as there is no actual state of Palestine, such a passport is a worthless declaration that the bearer is a citizen of a non-existent country. I can imagine a whole lot of ISIS-supporting San Bernardino-terrorist types who would be clamoring to obtain such a passport. One hopes that if this plan comes to fruition, that the Western countries will have enough sense to withhold any recognition of these documents.
Passports to a Make Believe place, just a worthless piece of paper.
And almost every country in the world will accept those passports.
Of course they are going to charge their people to get the passport. The Palestinians will pay. The Real question is who keeps the money from the sale of the passports. Wha’s next Palestinian currency? Always good for a laugh.
Abu mazen looks like one of the three stooges chucking his chin…
Would you take this man seriously?
#5 Duvie: just taking your assertion a bit further. In the Palestinian towns and “refugee camps,” although U.S. dollars and Euros are popular currencies, prices in stores and markets are generally in Israeli shekels!