LITHUANIA CONFIRMS THE STATUS OF THE PALESTINIAN GENERAL DELEGATION
On 3 June, the Palestinian General Delegation in Finland received a note of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informing that Lithuania regarded Delegate of Palestine Nabil Darwish Alwazir as the Head of the Palestinian Delegation in Helsinki.
The diplomatic mission with this status will be included into the list of diplomatic missions that are accredited by Lithuania.
Lithuania, along with the European Union, supports the plan of the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for the creation of a Palestinian state within two years and consistently speaks up in favour of the solution of two states - Israel and Palestine – living peacefully side by side.
The status and diplomatic representation of the Palestinian Authority administration in the EU countries are determined by historical circumstances. Some EU countries established diplomatic relations and recognized the diplomatic representation of the Palestinian Authority after the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was granted an observer status at the UN in 1974, some when the PLO declared the establishment of a Palestinian state in 1988, and some after the signing of the Oslo Accords that established the Palestinian National Authority in 1993.
Lithuania and the Palestinian Authority have not established diplomatic relations.
In 2010-2011, the status of Palestinian diplomatic missions was reviewed and upgraded in some other EU countries: Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.
