PARIS: Britain, Australia and Canada on Sunday recognised a Palestinian state after nearly two years of war in the Gaza Strip, with France, Belgium and other countries poised to follow suit at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Here is an overview of diplomatic recognition of the state, which was unilaterally proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.
Of the territory claimed by the state, Israel currently occupies the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is largely in ruins.
Which countries recognise or will recognise the State of Palestine?
Answer: three-quarters of UN members.
According to an AFP tally, at least 144 countries out of 193 UN members already recognise the State of Palestine.
AFP has not yet obtained recent confirmation from three African countries.
The count includes Britain and Canada the first G7 countries to do so and Australia.
Portugal was expected to follow suit soon, and several other countries including France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta are expected to do the same during a summit on the future of the two-state solution chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on Monday at UN headquarters.
Russia, alongside all Arab countries, almost all African and Latin American countries, and most Asian countries including India and China are already on the list.
Algeria became the first country to officially recognise a Palestinian state on November 15, 1988, minutes after late Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally proclaimed an independent Palestinian state.
Who does not?
Answer: at least 46 countries, including Israel, the United States and their allies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu´s government completely rejects the idea of a Palestinian state.
Japan, South Korea and Singapore are the Asian countries that do not recognise Palestine.
Western and northern Europe were until now united in non-recognition, with the exception of Sweden, which extended recognition in 2014.
But the war in Gaza has upended things, with Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia following in Sweden´s footsteps to recognise the state in 2024, before the United Kingdom did so on Sunday.
Italy and Germany do not plan on recognising a Palestinian state.
What does recognition mean?
Romain Le Boeuf, a professor in international law at the University of Aix-Marseille in southern France, described recognition of Palestinian statehood as “one of the most complicated questions” in international law, “a little like a halfway point between the political and juridical”.
He told AFP states were free to choose the timing and form of recognition, with great variations that are either explicit or implicit.
According to Le Boeuf, there is no office to register recognitions.
