It would be ironic, to say the least, for the UK or the UN to censure Israel for recognizing Somaliland’s independence – and both have done so – considering that Britain, its colonial ruler, itself granted sovereign independence to the State of Somaliland, more than 65 years ago on June 26, 1960. 

Immediately congratulatory messages from some 35 countries, including all five permanent members of the UN Security Council, poured into the Somaliland government, in what was then the standard practice for newly decolonized states.

Even though just five days later, on July 1, the new state voluntarily united with Italian Somaliland to form the ill-fated Somali Republic, the fact remains that Britain and the UN had welcomed the sovereign independence of Somaliland.

In short, they acknowledged that the newly independent country fulfilled the four criteria set out in Article 1 of the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States: that a state in international law should possess a permanent population, a defined territory, a government exercising effective political authority over the population and territory, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.

The Montevideo Convention also states that “the political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states.” In other words, an entity is a state if it meets the Montevideo criteria alone; recognition by others merely acknowledges an existing situation. Therefore, whatever the UK or the UN now say, Somaliland is a sovereign state according to their own reckoning.

On December 26, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would officially recognize Somaliland’s independence. Pledging extensive cooperation on health, technology and........

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