145 countries now recognize a Palestinian state

Issued on: 28/05/2024 – 13:51Altered: 28/05/2024 – 13:50

3 minutes

Norway, Spain and Ireland on Tuesday became the latest countries to recognize a state of Palestine, breaking with Western powers’ long-held view that Palestinians can only gain a state as part of a negotiated peace with Israel.

Their move, which has angered Israel, led to 145 of the 193 UN member states recognizing a Palestinian state.

They include many Middle Eastern, African, and Asian countries, but not the United States, Canada, most of Western Europe, Australia, Japan, or South Korea.

In April, the United States used its veto power in the UN Security Council to prevent a Palestinian attempt to become a full-fledged UN member state.

Here is a brief summary of the Palestinians’ quest for statehood:

1988: Arafat declares statehood

On November 15, 1988, during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally declared an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

He made the announcement in Algiers, during a meeting of the exiled Palestinian National Council, which adopted the two-state solution as its goal, with independent Israeli and Palestinian states coexisting.

Minutes later, Algeria became the first country to officially recognize an independent Palestinian state.

Within weeks, dozens of other countries, including much of the Arab world, India, Turkey, most of Africa and several Central and Eastern European countries, had followed suit.

The next wave of recognitions came in late 2010 and early 2011, at a time of crisis in the Middle East peace process.

South American countries, including Argentina, Brazil and Chile, have heeded Palestinians’ calls to endorse their claims for statehood.

This came in response to Israel’s decision to end a temporary ban on Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

2011-2012: UN recognition

In 2011, with peace talks at a standstill, Palestinians continued a campaign for full UN membership for a Palestinian state.

The search failed, but on October 31 of that year, in a groundbreaking step, the UN cultural organization, UNESCO, voted to accept the Palestinians as full members. In response, Israel and the United States suspended their funding of the body. They left UNESCO entirely in 2018, although the United States rejoined UNESCO last year.

In November 2012, the Palestinian flag was raised for the first time at the United Nations in New York, after the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to “non-member observer state”.

Three years later, the International Criminal Court also accepted Palestine as a state party.

2014: Sweden first in Western Europe

In 2014, Sweden, which has a large Palestinian community, became the first EU member in Western Europe to recognize a Palestinian state.

The move followed months of almost daily clashes in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.

The State of Palestine was previously recognized by six other European countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

Israel reacted angrily to Stockholm’s move, with then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman telling Swedes that “Middle East relations are much more complex than IKEA’s self-assembly furniture.”

2024: New impetus in Europe

Israel’s brutal offensive in Gaza, which has killed at least 36,050 people according to the Health Ministry, in retaliation for Hamas’s killing of more than 1,170 people in Israel, has increased support in Europe for the Palestinian state.

After months of warnings, Norway, Spain and Ireland finally took the step on Tuesday, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez describing it as a matter of “historic justice”.

Malta and Slovenia have also expressed their “willingness” to recognize a Palestinian state when “conditions are right”.

Australia has also raised the possibility of supporting Palestinian statehood and President Emmanuel Macron has also said the issue is no longer “a taboo for France”, insisting this must happen at the “right time”.

© 2024 AFP