Friday, February 05, 2021
Elder of Ziyon
This week, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that Palestinian prime minister Mohamed Shtayyeh gave an "Order of the Star of Jerusalem" award to "Denmark's Representative to Palestine, Nathalia Feinberg."
English language Palestinian government announcements also refer to Feinberg as the "Representative of Denmark to Palestine" as her title, as does the PLO.
That isn't her title, though.
Feinberg's official title is "Head of Mission at the Danish Representative Office in Ramallah."
No mention of "Palestine" in her title. The PA literally lies about her title to make it appear as if Denmark recognizes "Palestine" as a nation.
And this is a consistent pattern. Official Palestinian media refers to Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff as the "European Union Representative to Palestine" when his actual title is "Head of Delegation, Delegation to West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA."
Palestinian media refers to the "German representative to Palestine, Ambassador Christian Klaghas," as if he is an ambassador at a German embassy. But Christian Clages is actually Head of Mission, Representative Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ramallah. There is no embassy and he is no ambassador.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a press release mentioning the "Czech Ambassador to Palestine, Petr Stary." His title is actually the Representative of the Czech Representative Office in Ramallah.
The Head of Mission Representative Office of Hungary in Ramallah is called the "Hungarian ambassador" by the PA's foreign affairs ministry.
This is consistent. Palestinians refer to envoys as "ambassadors" and their titles including the word "Palestine" for countries that do not recognize a Palestinian state.
Diplomats are highly attuned to the specific meaning of words. There is no way that they are unaware of how the Palestinian Authority is lying about their titles and the titles of their missions, which in normal circumstances would be considered an insult.
But as with so many other things, there is a Palestinian exception where the normal rules of statecraft, diplomacy and etiquette simply do not apply.
