Under new decree, all stamps, signs, and official letterheads will be changed to bear the title.<\/i><\/p>\n
Palestinian Authority President Abbas signed a presidential decree changing the name of the Palestinian Authority to the \u201cState of Palestine,\u201d following the Palestinians\u2019 upgraded status at the United Nations as a non-member observer state.<\/p>\n
According to the decree, reported by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa Thursday [3 Jan 2013] night, all stamps, signs, and official letterheads will be changed to bear the new name.<\/p>\n
The move was one of the first concrete, albeit symbolic, steps the Palestinians have taken following the November 29 decision by the United Nations General Assembly to upgrade their status to nonmember observer state.<\/p>\n
Last month, the United Nations officially changed the way it refers to the Palestinians\u2019 entity, from \u201cPalestine\u201d to the \u201cState of Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name change was based on an opinion by the UN\u2019s legal department. The UN\u2019s head of protocol, Yeocheol Yoon, confirmed that \u201cthe designation of \u2018State of Palestine\u2019 shall be used by the Secretariat in all official United Nations documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UN\u2019s official list of all permanent missions in New York has since been updated to reflect the name change. It used to<\/a> refer to the \u201cPermanent Observer Mission of Palestine.\u201d Now, the so-called Blue Book speaks of<\/a> the \u201cPermanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n The head of the Palestinian UN mission, Riyad Mansour, had requested the name change on December 12 [2012].<\/p>\n