Thailand Recognizes Palestinian State

[Purveyor]

By JPOST.COM STAFF
01/20/2012 09:04

Bangkok joins over 100 countries in recognizing "Palestine" along pre-67 borders; Abbas officially thanks envoy.

Thailand on Thursday joined a long list of countries that have recognized a Palestinian state along pre-1967 lines. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas subsequently thanked the east Asian country as its envoy to the United Nations officially announced the move.

Bangkok's mission at the UN in New York said in a letter that it "officially recognized the state of Palestine and has initiated the process to establish and formalize diplomatic relations" with it at the earliest opportunity, official PA news agency WAFA reported Thursday.

PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki called the recognition "an achievement for Palestinian diplomacy" and noted it was the first such recognition of 2012, according to WAFA. He said officials in Ramallah would be in contact with Thai diplomats to determine the nature of relations between the two.

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http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=254441

[Scurrilous]

1. Good on them!

[vminfla]

2. So shortly on the heels of arresting arab terrorists on their own soil too

A foreign suspect with alleged links to Hezbollah militants led Thai police Monday to a warehouse filled with materials commonly used to make bombs, as Thailand and the U.S. disagreed over whether Bangkok was the target of a terror plot.

Police seized more than 8,800 pounds (4,000 kilograms) of urea fertilizer and several gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate at the warehouse in Samut Sakhon, on the western outskirts of Bangkok, according to police and media reports.

The U.S. Embassy had issued an "emergency message" Friday warning of a possible terror threat against Americans in Bangkok, and Israel warned its citizens as well. A dozen other embassies have since urged their citizens to exercise caution.

Thai authorities were caught off-guard by the U.S. announcement, hastily revealing they had detained a Swedish national of Lebanese origin with alleged links to pro-Iranian Hezbollah militants and that intelligence indicated a plot could be carried out between Jan. 13 and 15. The defense minister said the news was not released earlier to avoid panic that could hurt Thailand's tourism industry, one of the country's biggest revenue earners.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/thai-police-raid-warehouse-terror-probe-15368766

One would assume that someone in the Thai government would see the cause and effect nature of supporting a nation that is partially run by Hamas and their own recent bout of terrorism.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

5. I'm sorry, what exact relevance does Lebanon/Hezbollah have in regards to recognizing Palestine

Two different countries, and two different nationalities, or are you of the view that one Arab is just the same as another?

[Violet_Crumble]

6. I figured it was the Palestinian=terrorist angle...

Or in the case of someone who's allergic to uttering the word Palestinian, and continually refers to all surrounding states as 'the Arabs' instead of making things easy and using the names of the states, it's the Arab=terrorist angle

[bemildred]

7. I do wonder what an "alleged link" is?

It sounds a lot like a "baseless assertion", but there is no mention of any evidence, just some unknown person saying things. I mean, they used to say so-and-so is linked to such-and-such, back in the "Bush Era", now I guess that has lost it's punch somehow, or the public is wary, so it's "alleged links" from "anonymous sources", who are talking to the press despite not being authorized ot talk to the press. And the obvious idea that pops up in my mind is why should I pay any attention to this sort of babble at all? There is really nothing you can use in it.

[azurnoir]

8. see here

the editorial lines added say it all IMO

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11343249

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11343268

and btw for this person it's arabs not Arabs in most cases

[azurnoir]

3. Good for Thailand and further more

good that Thailand recognizes that Arabs have different nationalities and that what one nationality does really has little bearing on another just because because they can all be lumped up under the same designation

[bemildred]

4. +1. nt

[shaayecanaan]

9. Outstanding (nt)