The Bahamas, a former British colony in the Caribbean region with a population of some 400,000, formally recognized a Palestinian state, the government in Nassau announced on Tuesday.
“The Bahamas became an independent nation in 1973 as an act of self-determination. Therefore, the Bahamas supports the legal right of the Palestinian people of self-determination,” the announcement read.
It noted the Bahamas has “endorsed the two-state solution as clearly articulated in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) on a Peaceful and Accepted Settlement of the Middle East Situation.
“The Bahamas joins the Caribbean Community’s consensus on this matter,” concluded the statement, alluding to previous recognitions of “Palestine” by Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Palestinian Authority applauded the move, with Ramallah saying Nassau was “contributing to the consolidation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination on its land and for taking practical steps to support the implementation of the two-state solution.”
The U.N. General Assembly is slated to vote on a resolution that would grant the Palestinians additional perks, following the Security Council’s rejection of their full membership.
An annex to the resolution, which could be revised ahead of Friday’s vote, would grant unprecedented rights to a non-member observer state, which has been the Palestinians’ status for the past 12 years.
Those benefits would include the right to be elected to committees, to submit proposals and amendments, to raise procedural motions and to be seated among member states in alphabetical order—all privileges not granted to the institution’s other non-member observer state, the Holy See, or to the European Union, which holds the same status.