Ban Ki-Moon: UN will refer to 'the State of Palestine' in all official communications

In future, the ‘State of Palestine’ will be the official alternative name for the ‘Palestinian Authority’ within all UN institutions, but not in Palestinian-Israeli institutions, Ban Ki-Moon has said.

The Israeli Hebrew newspaper, Maariv, reported on Thursday that the General Secretary of the UN announced a report prepared to clarify the new changes in the status of the Palestinian Authority, now ‘the State of Palestine,’ within the UN.

According to the report announced by Ki-Moon, Palestinians have the right to take part in all discussions and meetings held by the UN, but they cannot nominate a representative to occupy any position in the international organization or any of the organizations affiliated to it. They cannot even vote for or against any of the other countries’ nominees.

However, they can nominate representatives in the ICC who share decision making on certain issues. “This is what raises Israel’s worries,” the newspaper said. “Based on this right, Palestinians might call for the formation of an international trial to investigate the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”

However, the name ‘the State of Palestine’ is not going to be used in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. “It means that Palestinian negotiations with Israel will not be between two states as, according to the UN report, the new status does not qualify the Palestinians for that,” Maariv reported. In the report, Ki-Moon also strongly criticized Israel. “Upgrading the status of the Palestinians with 138 votes in the international organization reflects the increasing impatience of the countries of the world towards the occupation,” he said.

Blaming mainly Israel for this, Ki-Moon expressed his worries about the peace process stalemate. The continuous Israeli construction in the settlements, according to Ki-Moon, mainly in the E1 area lying between Jerusalem and Maali Adumim, is the reason for the stalemate. He said that the termination of the Israeli occupation is the solution, and the two-state solution should have been reached a long time ago. “Israel is planning the construction of 11,500 new settlement units outside the green line borders,” he said, “however, building in this area is against international law.”

Maariv pointed out that Israel expressed disappointment over this report. “Despite the fact that the purpose of this report is to clarify the change in the status of the Palestinians in the UN, but it is full of targeted and unilateral political expressions,” the newspaper said.