Palestinian statehood and a two-state solution will be prominently on the agenda of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly on September 9.

France, Canada, Australia and Malta have announced their intention to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly. The United Kingdom has said it would do the same if Israel does not take significant steps towards peace in the Gaza Strip, which includes agreeing to a ceasefire with the Hamas militant group and allowing UN aid to enter the enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the moves during a press conference on August 10 as "shameful," saying the move "would not bring peace."

Most countries worldwide already acknowledge the Palestinian territories as a state, but opposition remains strong from key powers. On May 11, 2024, 143 of 193 UN General Assembly members voted in favor of a resolution that would recognize Palestinian statehood.

Palestine already has non-member observer status, but full UN membership can only be decided upon by the UN Security Council. In April 2024, the US, a permanent member with veto power, blocked a draft resolution that would have recommended granting Palestine full membership.

Path to recognition for a Palestinian state

A total of 147 countries have officially recognized the Palestinian territories as a state. Just under half of these nations did this formally after November 1988, when the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) officially declared Palestine an independent state. Endorsements came from communist states such as the Soviet Union and China, as well as nonaligned countries Yugoslavia and India.

More countries followed suit. In the last decade of the 20th century, many central Asian nations, along with South Africa, the Philippines and Rwanda, established diplomatic relations with the Palestinian territories. In the early 2000s, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela officially recognized the Palestinian territories as a sovereign nation.

In 2011, the Palestinian Authority (PA) applied for full membership in the UN, but the Security Council dismissed its bid. Nonetheless, the PA's diplomatic efforts, coupled with widespread frustration with the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, prompted more than a dozen countries, including Chile, Uruguay and Peru, to recognize the Palestinian territories as a state.

In 2011, Palestine was admitted as a full member of UNESCO, marking a victory for Palestinian diplomacy. Iceland became the first Western European country to recognize it as a state the same year, setting a precedent for Sweden, which followed suit in 2014.

Recent developments

In 2024, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados announced their recognition of the Palestinian territories as a state. In June 2023, Mexico announced its full support for Palestinian statehood, and shortly afterward, the Mexican government moved to establish a full embassy with all the privileges and immunities granted to diplomatic missions in the Palestinian territories.

In 2018, Colombia declared Palestine a sovereign nation just before the end of President Juan Manuel Santos' term. Since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on Gaza, the Latin American country, which exported $1 billion worth of goods to Israel in 2023, has reduced its political and economic relations with Israel. President Gustavo Petro has cut ties with Israel, and earlier this week ordered the opening of an embassy in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

What is the West's stance?

The US, Canada, Australia, many Western European states and their allies Japan and South Korea have long supported the concept of an independent Palestinian state coexisting with Israel as a resolution to the long-standing Middle Eastern conflict. However, many have said they will only recognize the Palestinian territories as an independent nation within the framework of a comprehensive peace agreement.

That stance has begun to change, with France becoming the first G7 country to announce its intention to recognize Palestinian statehood and Canada, Malta and Australia following suit.

However, Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow and Middle East expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told DW that other European countries could join France in recognizing a Palestinian state. He suggested Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and maybe Portugal as countries that could follow suit.

He added that Germany, as one of the staunchest supporters of Israel in the EU, is unlikely to change its position.

"Well, never say never, but I think the Germans have made it very clear that they will be amongst the last to recognize the state of Palestine," he told DW.

This article was originally published on May 25, 2024, and updated on August 11, 2025. 

Anchal Vohra contributed to this report.