Palestinians living in the Netherlands will be allowed to register the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as their official place of birth, Dutch State Secretary Raymond Knops told the House of Representatives in The Hague.

The Netherlands, which does not recognize Palestine as a sovereign state, currently offers Palestinians two options when specifying their birthplace at the Dutch civil registry, the two options are Israel or “unknown.”

While the acceptance of the Gaza Strip as birthplace is an important step forward,…the fact that the Netherlands still hasn’t recognised the State of Palestine is a shame..! https://t.co/GZdHjITUtz

— Betul (@BetulB____) February 10, 2019

Knops wrote a letter to the House of Representatives, saying that he intends to add the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem to a list of official states used by the Dutch civil registry.

The new category will be available to Palestinians born after May 15, 1948, the day the British Mandate was officially terminated and Israel became a recognized state.

The Netherlands does not yet recognise the State of Palestine, as many countries do, but it will recognise those Palestinian territories as the origin of birth for those born after May 15, 1948 when the British Mandate officially ended.

— Abrar Khan (@khanabrar643) February 10, 2019

In the letter, Knops stated that the new category is in accordance with “the Dutch viewpoint that Israel has no sovereignty over these areas,” as well as the Netherlands’ refusal to recognize Palestine as a state.

Knops added that the new category was named based on the Oslo Accords and United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Netherlands recognizes Gaza, West Bank as official birthplaces for Palestinians https://t.co/oweMKRN3cN #Palestine

— Hans de Boer (@HansdeBoerLstad) February 10, 2019

While the UN General Assembly and at least 136 countries have recognized Palestine as a sovereign state, most of the European Union has refrained from recognition until such status is established peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

According to Dutch news outlets, up until 2014, Israel was the only birthplace available to Palestinians registering in the Netherlands. The category “unknown,” also known as code “0000,” was made available to Palestinians living in the Netherlands after opposition to listing Israel as their birthplace.

(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)