Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced plans for his national authority to begin issuing 'State of Palestine' passports in 2016.

Speaking at a joint press conference in Athens with Greece's prime minister Alexis Tsipras, 80-year-old Abbas said that within the next year all official documents and passports will change their naming from 'Palestinian Authority' to 'State of Palestine'.

"Regarding the issue of a passport under the name Palestine State, we are about to proceed to the passport replacement and the issuance of a new passport within one year or even less. We have already changed all documents issued by ministries and public services and they now bear the name State of Palestine," he said.

"We no longer accept from anybody to use the name Palestinian Authority," added Abbas.

More about Palestine

The State of Palestine is recognised by 136 of 193 member states of the United Nations, but is still not recognised by nations such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany.

The Palestinian flag was raised for the first time at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 30 September 2015.

The two-state solution, an independent Palestine existing side-by-side with Israel, has been the broad objective of negotiations since the mid-1970s and the overriding focus of US-led diplomacy for the past 20 years.

The Palestinian president is on a two-day official visit in Athens during which the Greek parliament voted to recognise the state of Palestine on 22 December.

However, the recognition will not be by the Greek state, in order "not to disturb good relations with Israel," according to a statement released by the Greek foreign ministry.

Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank and East Jerusalem among 2.4 million Palestinians. The World Court says settlements Israel has built there are illegal, a view Israel disputes.

Palestine