PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) realizes that there is a great deal of significance to one’s name and therefore, after being granted non-member observer nation status by the United Nations General Assembly in November 2012, he has ordered the Palestinian Authority to officially change its name to the State of Palestine.

The ordered change will be reflected in PA stamps, passports, drivers’ licenses and all official documents.

Abu Mazen realizes that with the overwhelming support he received in the UN, most countries will recognize the State of Palestine despite Israeli and US objections, hoping to create facts on the ground; de facto recognition of statehood by the international community.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)