Three-quarters of UN members have already or soon plan to recognise Palestinian statehood, with Australia on Monday becoming the latest to promise it will at the UN General Assembly in September.
Below is a concise overview of the historical context surrounding the Palestinian quest for statehood:
1988: Arafat proclaims state
On November 15, 1988, during the first Palestinian intifada, Yasser Arafat declared the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. This announcement took place in Algiers at a meeting of the Palestinian National Council, which endorsed the two-state solution aimed at achieving coexistence with Israel. Shortly thereafter, Algeria became the first nation to officially recognize the Palestinian state, quickly followed by numerous countries across the Arab world, India, Turkey, and various African and Eastern European nations.
The subsequent recognition wave occurred in late 2010 and early 2011 amid rising tensions in the Middle East peace process, as South American nations, including Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, responded to Palestinian calls to acknowledge their claims to statehood, amid Israel’s resumption of Jewish settlement development in the occupied West Bank.
2011-2012: UN recognition
Faced with stalled peace negotiations, the Palestinians sought full UN membership in 2011. Although this initiative did not succeed, a significant milestone was achieved on October 31 of that year when UNESCO welcomed the Palestinians as a full member, which concerned both Israel and the United States. In November 2012, the Palestinian flag was inaugurated at the UN in New York following a General Assembly vote that raised their status to “non-member observer state.” Three years later, the International Criminal Court also accepted the Palestinians as a state party.
2024-2025: A new push
Israel’s military operations in Gaza post-October 7 have bolstered support for Palestinian statehood. In 2024, several Caribbean nations—Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and the Bahamas—along with Armenia took crucial diplomatic steps towards recognition. Four European nations—Norway, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia—followed suit, marking the first such recognitions within the EU in a decade since Sweden’s recognition in 2014, which had strained relations with Israel. Other EU member states like Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania had recognized Palestine since 1988. Notably, former Eastern bloc nations such as Hungary and the Czech Republic have chosen not to recognize Palestine.
On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared that “Australia will recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own” during the upcoming UN General Assembly. New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters indicated that New Zealand would also contemplate similar recognition within the next month, asserting that it is a “matter of when, not if.” France stated last month it intends to recognize Palestinian statehood in September, while the UK indicated it would follow suit unless Israel undertakes “substantive steps,” including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza. Additionally, Canada has announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September, a policy shift that was promptly rejected by Israel. Other nations, including Malta, Finland, and Portugal, have also hinted at potential official recognition.
(vib)
UPDATE: Updated to include New Zealand’s stance.
