Both Denmark and Finland made a bold move last weekend to give further recognition to the Palestinian territories. The fledgling territory will now get an embassy in each respective capital instead of a mission.
The two Nordic countries join a handful of nations outside of the Middle East who treat the Palestinians to full diplomatic status even if the sovereignty of their country is yet to be fully determined.
However, they stressed; ‘It does not entail a formal bilateral recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state.’
“[The aim is] to engage with determination in the necessary negotiations with the Israeli government on a two-state solution,” said Danish Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal and Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja in a joint statement.
“It is important to keep focused on the aim of Palestine becoming a fully recognised state and as such claim its rightful place as part of the international community of states.”
The news comes just days after Google symbolically changed the designation of their google.pl site to ‘Palestine’ instead of ‘Palestinian Territories’, and comes on the heels of a decision by ICAAN to recognise the independence of Palestine on the internet. ICAAN manages the distribution of domain name locations.
In November last year, the United Nations gave further weight to the self determination of Palestinians currently under occupation by Israel when it gave them ‘non-observer’ status at the General Assembly. However, moves for full membership are still blocked by the Security Council, and the United States and Israel both protested the most recent move voted by the General Assembly.