The New Line on the State of Palestine Passport

One of the most important decisions following the UN vote on Palestine was made in the temporary Palestinian capital of Ramallah. Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree on Jan. 6, 2013, calling for the issuance of new passports, driver’s licenses, stamps and other national identification documents all under the title of the State of Palestine. The 337-word decree based the decision on both the Palestinian Basic Law (temporary constitution) of 2003 and the UN resolution of Nov. 29, 2012.

The reaction mostly focused on the change in the title on passports from the Oslo-mandated “Palestinian Authority” to the term “State of Palestine.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a strong rejection of the decision, refusing any action that predetermines the outcome of talks and opposing the UN declaration of a Palestinian state.

Very few people were surprised by the Israeli decision, and therefore most people are skeptical that the Palestinians will in fact revise the single document needed to be released from the larger prison – the occupation. Any changes to the Palestinian passport or ID card (both based on the Oslo Accords' terminology of Palestinian Authority) will simply deny their holders a chance to travel across the borders which Israel still firmly controls. The new passports could be easily acceptable around the world, but it is unlikely to be of any use on the Israeli side of the King Hussein (or Allenby Bridge).

What Netanayhu and the rest of the media didn’t notice was a single line in the decree that talks about the issuance of a national ID number for Palestinians everywhere. Until the UN declaration, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority had restricted the issuance of passports to those Palestinians living inside the occupied West Bank (minus East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip. Palestinians in the diaspora were not included as part of this privilege.