Partially Recognized Nations

Have you ever heard of a partially recognized nation? Well, they are nations which are not recognized by all members of the United Nations or UN. I decided to look into a few of these places and interview a local in the country. The three states that I researched were Palestine, The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and Abkhazia. All three of these states with limited recognition are at different points of recognition, Palestine is recognized by 137 UN members, The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is recognized by 46 UN member countries, and the Republic of Abkhazia is only recognized by 5 UN member countries.

Palestine is a partially recognized nation in the middle east. Palestine claims the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and parts of Western Jordan as its own. Palestine is currently in an active conflict with Israel. Palestine is considered a non-member observer state by the UN. I decided to interview an editor for the Palestine Chronicle about Palestine and these were their answers.

Can you tell me about what makes your country separate from the country that claims it?

1. The State of Israel didn't exist before 1947. That land belonged to Palestinians and the Arab majority lived in peace with the Jewish minority. However, the foundation of the State of Israel coincided with the so-called Nakba, Arabic for "catastrophe": hundreds of thousands of native Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their houses and from their land. Their villages were destroyed, entire families died and others were forced to leave their home and run away. They became refugees. After a few years, in 1967, there was a new war between Arabs and Israel: from that moment on, Israel illegally occupied much of Palestinian territories. Since then, many illegal settlements were built, and Palestinians still try to resist, because they don't want to abandon their land and they truly perceive themselves as a Nation. They have a strong culture and identity and they don't want to give up.

Do you think that your country will gain recognition in the next decade? Why or why not.

2. The State of Palestine was already recognized by many countries, but unfortunately, things will not change unless the human rights for the Palestinian population are acknowledged. Recently, Israel is under a lot of international pressure because of its illegal behaviors and many citizens from other countries, as well as universities, churches, political and cultural institutions decided to boycott it. We think that, in the long run,  this could impose a major change to the current situation and could lead to the foundation of a State where Palestinians have the same rights as Israelis.

What's your favorite part about the culture in your country?

3. Although the many difficulties, Palestinians didn't give up. Their mantra is and will always be "We teach life, Sir". They keep praying, loving, getting married, having children, dancing a typical dance called "dabke" and eating their amazing food: hummus, falafel,
maklouba and so on. Another important aspect is that they are a lot about education: children manage to go to school, despite the tough situation, and the illiteracy rate in Palestine is one of the lowest in the world.

The next country that I decided to look into was the Sahrawi Democratic Republic. The Sahrawi Democratic Republic claims the non-self-governing region of Western Sahara. The Polisario Front is the party that claims this region, it is mainly backed by the country Algeria. The region of Western Sahara is claimed by Morocco and was once a territory of Spain, it was called Spanish Sahara. The Sahrawi Democratic Republic is currently recognized by 34 UN member states.

Can you tell me about what makes your country separate from the country that claims it?

The Sahrawis began military fighting against Spain on 20/05/1973 and forced it after two and a half years, to negotiate the safe exit of soldiers and their families from the territory in negotiations held in October 1975. The two sides have already begun arrangements for exiting the Spaniards and handing over the Polisario to the Territory. While Spanish exit arrangements and independence of the Sahara were proceeding rapidly, another Jewish-led group was former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Sheikh Al-Hassan II, King of Saudi Arabia, King of Spain and President Ould Daddah of Mauritania to invade the region and exchange benefits, Spain gets its shipyard hunter for decades in the desert and has 30% of phosphate revenues and Morocco taking the northern half of the province and Mauritania, the southern half of it. It was already signed in the Madrid Agreement on 14 November 1975 Sahrawis and even Spaniards who were inside the region were surprised by the agreement that Franco, the Spanish ruler, was on his deathbed and secretly planned it. The first Moroccan troops entered  on 31/10/1975. Battles began in Agadir with them, but it was a big surprise were not in mind, and on two sides, which caused great confusion among the civilians, who received the news of artillery shelling and flight and the brutality of tens of thousands of Moroccan soldiers, they decided to leave the cities and move to the relatively safe areas in Tfarti and Amheiriz and Amadreha, but also bombed internationally banned bombs, then ‏The Polisario decided to contact Algeria to shelter the civilians, which has already been done. The fighting on the first two fronts continued with Mauritania and forced to surrender two and a half years later. The northern front with the Moroccans. ‏However, the Polisario did not expect Morocco to mobilize more than 350,000 settlers in a march called the Green March, backed by tens of thousands of Moroccan soldiers, which caused confusion among the unarmed citizens. The fighters never stopped fighting the invaders and began to crowd their ranks on the northern and southern fronts.

Do you think that your country will gain recognition in the next decade? Why or why not.

2. Yes , I think and I believe in my country that will gain recognition because they actually did  in those days and the big proof was joining to the African Union and the 34 countries ( Algeria, Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, …), in addition to efforts of the Polisario that will never stop, and we went half way through and everything is possible

What's your favorite part about the culture in your country?

3. Well I love all parts of my culture and I respect it but my favorite is tea which we do 5 times per day at least, because of its reuniting the family, friends, neighbors and talking about everything and anything, laughing, blaming, and serious topics. That makes these gatherings very special and useful and you can really see the mercy in it.

The last country that I researched was Abkhazia. Abkhazia is a de facto partially recognized state which claims the land in North Western Georgia. During the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Abkhazia had autonomy within Georgia. Cultural differences between Abkhazia and Georgia led to a conflict between Abkhazia and Georgia from 1992 and 1993. Abkhazia is only recognized as a country by 5 UN member states. Most just see it as the autonomous region of Abkhazia in Georgia.

Can you tell me about what makes your country separate from the country that claims it?

1. The answer to this question may not fit this mail, but briefly speaking we were forcibly attached to Georgia by Stalin in 1931. We never wanted to be part of Georgia and after the collapse of the Soviet Union we found that there are no longer Soviet Law binding us. We proposed to Georgia to find a new form of coexistence but they decided to launch a war. That's how we became two different countries.
Do you think that your country will gain recognition in the next decade? Why or why not.

2. Of course, it will. But it is not the goal. We can live without recognition. There are some countries that go well without it. The most important is peace a better life for the local population. Recognition is just another step.

What's your favorite part about the culture in your country?

3. Easy attitude. Compassion and close relations with many people and relatives. Nature and easy way of living, though we live through some hardship it is still easy.

This is an image of Palestinians fleeing a conflict between Palestine and Israel.

This is a picture of the Polisario front.

This is an image of the scenery in Abkhazia.

​Story by Will Euler