Since October 7, Israel’s war in Gaza has revived a global push for Palestinians to have a state of their own. Norway, Spain, and Ireland on Tuesday became the latest countries to recognize a state of Palestine, breaking with the long-held view of Western powers that Palestinians can only gain statehood as part of a negotiated peace with Israel.
That 145 out of the 193 UN member states have recognized a Palestinian state has infuriated Israel. 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 at the UN Security Council to prevent a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member state.
We remember on November 15, 1988, during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally proclaimed an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He announced in Algiers, at a meeting of the exiled Palestinian National Council, which adopted the two-state solution as a goal, with independent Israeli and Palestinian states existing side-by-side.
Soon after, Algeria became the first to recognize an independent Palestinian state officially. Within weeks, dozens of other countries, including much of the Arab world, India, Turkey, most of Africa, and several central and eastern European countries followed suit.
In late 2010 and early 2011, the next wave of recognition came at a time of crisis in the Middle East peace process. South American countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Chile answered calls by the Palestinians to endorse their statehood claims. This came in response to Israel’s decision to end a temporary ban on Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
With peace talks at a standstill in 2011, the Palestinians pushed ahead with a campaign for full UN membership for a State of Palestine. The quest failed but, in a groundbreaking move on October 31 of that year, the UN cultural agency UNESCO voted to accept the Palestinians as a full member. In response, Israel and the United States suspended their funding of the body. They quit UNESCO outright in 2018, although the United States rejoined last year.
The Palestinian flag was raised for the first time at the United Nations in New York in November 2012, after the General Assembly massively voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to a non-member observer state. After three years, the International Criminal Court also accepted Palestine as a state party.
Sweden, which has a large Palestinian community, became the first EU member in Western Europe in 2014, to recognize a Palestinian state. The move followed months of almost daily clashes in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Tel Aviv reacted angrily to Stockholm’s move, with then foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman telling the Swedes that “relations in the Middle East are a lot more complex than the self-assembly furniture of IKEA”. The state of Palestine had earlier been recognized by six other European countries — Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israel’s relentless offensive in the territory, which has left at least 36,050 people dead, has boosted support in Europe for Palestinian statehood. After months of warnings, Norway, Spain, and Ireland finally took the step, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez describing it as a matter of historic justice.
Malta and Slovenia have also expressed readiness to recognize a Palestinian state when the circumstances will be right. Australia as well has floated the possibility of endorsing Palestinian statehood, and President Emmanuel Macron has said the question is no longer a taboo for France insisting that it must be done at the right moment.
