Netherlands Grants Palestinians Right to List Gaza, West Bank as Birthplace

By Staff, News Agencies

Palestinians in the Netherlands will for the first time be able to list the West Bank, Gaza and East al-Quds [Jerusalem] as their place of birth, in part because of the Dutch policy that "Israel" has no sovereignty over those areas.

Dutch State Secretary Raymond Knops informed the House of Representatives in The Hague of the change on Friday, explaining the decision was based on “the Dutch viewpoint that 'Israel' has no sovereignty over these areas,” and the fact that the Netherlands doesn’t recognize Palestinian sovereignty.

Natives of these areas who are living in the Netherlands currently have two options when specifying their birthplace at the Dutch civil registry – “Israel” or “Unknown”. The “Unknown” option was only added in 2014, following protests seeking fairer options.

While natives now resident in the Netherlands are still excluded from simply listing Palestine as their place of birth, they will now be able to use the name of the territory they were born in.