Japan is in process of recognizing State of Palestine

Palestine

Published: 2018-02-05 11:48

Last Updated: 2024-03-29 08:57


The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, with his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe. (MintPressNews)
The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, with his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe. (MintPressNews)

The Japanese Foreign Minister, Taro Kono, is collecting signatures of Japanese parliamentarians demanding the government to recognize the State of Palestine, the Palestinian President’s advisor for external affairs and international relations, Nabil Shaath, confirmed on Sunday.

Japan will recognize the Palestinian State gradually. It is expected to raise the level of the Palestinian diplomatic representation in Japan from a delegation to a representative office.

During an interview with the Voice of Palestine radio, Shaath confirmed that Japan supports “the formation of a new international framework for managing the peace process, breaking free from US monopoly over it”.

Accordingly, Japan is supporting Palestinians politically and financially, and it has renewed its commitment towards financing water projects in the Gaza Strip and raising its financial contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), after the US aid cut.

Since the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) proclaimed the Palestinian declaration of Independence in 1988, the international recognition of the State of Palestine was the main aim of the PLO.

As of September 2015, the State of Palestine was recognized by 136 countries of the 193 member states of the UN and another two non-member states.

However, many of the countries who don’t recognize the Palestinian State do recognize the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.