RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas gave orders yesterday for work to begin on new passports, ID cards, drivers’ licences and stamps reading “State of Palestine,” official media said.
The decree, carried by the official WAFA news agency, came in the wake of the Palestinians’ successful bid late last year for non-member observer state status at the United Nations over intense Israeli and US opposition.
Abbas said the changed language on official documents would help strengthen the Palestinian state “on the ground and build its institutions... and its sovereignty over its land.”
Already last week, he ordered the Foreign Ministry and embassies around the world to begin using “State of Palestine” in official correspondence. Previously, official documents issued by Abbas’s government, including passports and other identification documents, had been labelled as issued by the Palestinian Authority, which he heads. The Israeli foreign ministry refused comment. AFP
