Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has changed the name of his government to the State of Palestine, attempting to play on his new status as a non-observer state in the UN to get international recognition of his regional authority as a State of Palestine.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the Palestinian Authority government will no longer use “The Palestinian Authority” as the title of their government, but will begin calling themselves the “state of Palestine” and issuing passports, evening changing its official stationery.
The Associated Press has reported that Israel has not commented on the policy change, which includes Palestinian envoys acting as ambassadors to a country.
The move was made despite the fact that Abbas maintains no control over the Arabs of Gaza, who are controlled by Hamas.