RAMALLAH – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered all Palestinian institutions to stop using the term Palestinian National Authority on official documents, a report said Friday. The state-run Wafa news agency said that Abbas asked the institutions, including all Palestinian missions abroad, to replace the term with “the State of Palestine” in accordance with the UN recognition of Palestine as a nonmember observer state. The report said that the change went into effect immediately, and was applied to official documents, seals and medals. The report said that the embassies should “coordinate the change with the (Palestinian) Ministry of Foreign Affairs” to handle it with the countries that opposed the Palestinian move at the UN General Assembly. According to presidential decree, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), with whom Israel signed the Oslo Peace Accords, will not change its official documents, signs and seals. On Sunday, a senior PLO official recommended that the Palestinian Authority (PA) add the label “State of Palestine” to all of its official documents and signs. Sa'eb Erekat, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee and head of its Negotiations Department, also suggested that the PA prepare a new constitution, achieve reconciliation with Hamas, and seek membership in UN conventions and agencies following the upgrading of the status. The PLO official said that following the UN vote, the “occupation has become an occupation of a member of the UN by another member. This requires creating a new political dynamic and approach between the international community and Israel.”
