A clear majority of UN member states now recognise the State of Palestine. According to AFP figures, at least 151 of 193 UN members, close to 80%, have extended recognition, with AFP still awaiting recent confirmation from three African countries. On Monday, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta formally recognised Palestine from the UN rostrum, following announcements on Sunday by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal. Russia, the Arab world, almost all of Africa and Latin America, and most Asian states, including India and China, already recognise a Palestinian state. Algeria was the first to do so on 15 November 1988, immediately after the declaration of statehood by the Palestinian leadership in exile. Waves of recognition followed in the late 1980s, again some twenty years later, and most recently since the Gaza war began in October 2023, prompting recognitions from 19 more countries. Cyprus recognised the State of Palestine soon after the PLO’s 15 November 1988 declaration. Nicosia reaffirmed that recognition in January 2011 and later upgraded the Palestinian mission in Cyprus to an embassy in February 2013.
Who does not?
At least 39 countries, led by the United States and Israel, do not recognise Palestine. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects a Palestinian state outright, and in 2024 the Knesset approved a resolution opposing its creation. In Asia, Japan and South Korea have not recognised Palestine; in Africa, Cameroon; in the Americas, Panama; and most of Oceania likewise withhold recognition. Until recently, Europe was the most divided region. Before the 2010s, recognition largely came from Turkey and states of the former Eastern bloc (though Hungary and the Czech Republic now say they have not issued bilateral recognition). Aside from Sweden in 2014, western and northern European states had held back until 2024, when Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia moved first. Italy and Germany say they are not considering recognition.
What does recognition mean in law?
Recognition sits “somewhere between politics and law,” notes international law scholar Romain Le Boeuf of Aix-Marseille University. States are free to choose when and how they recognise another state, and there is no official registry of recognitions. International law, however, is clear on one point: recognition does not create a state, and the absence of recognition does not prevent one from existing. The classic criteria are a territory, a population and an independent government. While recognition is “largely symbolic and political,” Le Boeuf adds, the fact that roughly three-quarters of states say Palestine meets these conditions is significant.
As lawyer and professor Philippe Sands argued in mid-August, widespread recognition “changes the equation.” Once Palestine is treated as a state, it stands on a more equal legal footing with Israel in terms of how international law applies. That shift is unfolding even as Israel occupies the West Bank and Gaza has been devastated by war since 7 October 2023. The new recognitions underline a growing international consensus on a two-state framework, even as the path to implementation remains contested.
CNA sourced reporting