Cyprus has become the latest country to join the parade of nations proclaiming its recognition of a new Palestinian Authority "state" along the 1949 Armistice Line, referred to by the PA and in the international community as the "1967 border."
According to a report published by the semi-official WAFA news agency, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas received a letter Sunday from Cypriot President Demetris Christofias documenting that his nation would honor the PA as a new country.
Cyprus, a member nation of the European Union, has been instrumental in developing that body's relations with the Palestinian National Council, according to the report.
The text of the letter referred to bilateral relations based on long-standing historical grounds and expressed the desire to see a peaceful settlement in the region, with "East Jerusalem as the capital" of the new PA state.
Paraguay made a similar move on Friday, saying that it would also recognize the entity as a separate country, along the borders created by the 1949 Armistice agreement between Israel and the surrounding attacking Arab nations.
It is referred to as the 1967 border due to the changes wrought as a result of the 1967 Six Day War, in which attacking Arab nations were pushed back by the defending Israel Defense Forces. The IDF, which won the war, captured from Jordan much of the land it occupied in Judea and Samaria during the 1948 War of Independence. Israel also recaptured and restored to the city the areas of the Jerusalem, its capital, that were seized by Jordan during that war.
A number of Latin American nations have led the way this past year in such declarations, including Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Uruguay. Chile and Peru have also stated their recognition of the PA as a new country, but without stating specific borders.
Numerous other countries around the world, particularly in the European Union and among the Scandinavian bloc, have said they will consider upgrading PA missions to embassy status. Among those who have already made such a commitment are Ireland, Spain and France.
Britain, however, has said that it will not recognize any unilateral move by the Palestinian Authority to declare itself as an independent country without first going through the process of negotiating a legitimate settlement with Israel.