The Caribbean island nation of the Bahamas has officially recognized Palestine as an independent state. Several countries have recently recognized Palestine. Now, the Bahamas' name has been added to this list.
Qatar-based media outlet Al-Jazeera gave this information in a report on Wednesday (May 8).
According to the report, in a statement on Tuesday, the Bahamas' Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had joined the "Caribbean Community Consensus on the Independence of Palestine." The ministry's statement said that the Bahamas became an independent nation in 1973 through an Act of Self-Determination. Therefore, the Bahamas supports the legal right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
Last week, the government of Trinidad and Tobago announced that it was officially recognizing the state of Palestine, and several European Union countries are expected to recognize Palestine as an independent state later this month.
Palestine was originally granted observer status at the UN General Assembly in 2012. At that time, the country's ambassador was allowed to participate in UN bodies, but was not given the power to vote. On April 18, the United States vetoed a resolution requesting full membership for Palestine in the UN Security Council. In that vote of the 15-member Security Council, 12 states were in favor of Palestine. The United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained from voting.
