Document questions Palestinian statehood

JERUSALEM, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A document produced by the legal department of Israel's Foreign Ministry argues Palestine doesn't fit the United Nations criteria for statehood.

A copy of the five-page document obtained by The Jerusalem Post states: "While one day the Palestinian state could come into existence, today the Palestinian entity has not achieved statehood."

To be considered a state, the document cites four accepted principles of international law going back to the Montevideo Convention of 1933.

Those principles are a permanent population, defined territory, effective government and a capacity to enter into relations with other states, the legal department said.

The document, circulated among Israel's representatives abroad this week, said the Palestinians have failed to establish a permanent population.

The Palestinians have "been ambiguous about which group of people would constitute the permanent population of their state," the document states.

It also questions whether the Palestinians have established an effective government when "Hamas continues to exercise full control of the Gaza Strip."