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Australia has formally recognized a Palestinian state. Which other countries do?
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Australia has formally recognized a Palestinian state. Which other countries do?

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Australia is one of the four new countries that recognize an “independent and sovereign state Palestine” in an attempt to promote a two -state solution and an end to the war in Gaza.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanian’s explanation outside the United Nations in New York City coincided on Sunday with similar explanations by the leaders of the United Kingdom, Canada and Portugal, which gave rise to indignation of Israel and the Australian opposition.
“Australia acknowledges the legitimate and long -held ambitions of the people of Palestine to its own state,” said Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong in a joint statement.
The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that formal recognition “would revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis”, so that the Israeli government is convicted of her “ruthless and increasing bombing of Gaza”.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the leaders wages “terrorism,” sweating to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and to continue the expansion of settlements on the West Bank, considered illegal under international law.

The move can cause “punitive measures” from the United States, since 25 Republican allies of the US President Donald Trump insisted on France, the UK and Canada to reconsider their position.

Who recognized a Palestinian state for the first time?

The state of Israel was founded by the Israeli declaration of independence in 1948 and was admitted as a UN member the following year. It is currently recognized by 165 Member States.
In 1988, the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally proclaimed an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital during the first Intifada (uprising).
He announced the two -state solution as a goal, with independent Israeli and Palestinian states that co -exist.

Algeria, Indonesia and Malaysia belonged to the first group of countries that the State recognized in 1988, with a total of 82 countries – from India, Türkiye and most of Africa to Eastern Europe – that this did at the end of that year.

Algeria, Indonesia and Malaysia belonged to the first group of countries that recognized a Palestinian state in 1988, with a total of 82 countries towards the end of that year. Source: SBS News

In 1993 the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel signed the Oslo agreements – which were announced as the start of peace talks.

The next wave of recognition of a large number of South American countries, including Argentina, Brazil and Chile, came to the region at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, in the midst of political and social turbulence.
The Palestinian bid for full UN membership in 2011 was not successful.
In 2012, however, the UN General Meeting upgraded the status of Palestinians to that of a “non-member statement”, as a result of which they were a seat, but not a vote in the meeting.

In April 2024, the US pronounced a veto for a resolution that would have paved the way for full UN membership for the state of Palestine.

Countries are joining the Palestinian state in Europe

Sweden broke ranks and became the first West -European country to recognize a Palestinian state in 2014 and fell in six of the 27 EU member states.

The US, the UK, Australia and other Western countries have previously urged that recognition is part of a negotiated peace scheme.

A world map colored in one of the three colors, depending on whether they recognize a Palestinian state, are planning to recognize or not.

From March 2025, the state of Palestine has been recognized as a sovereign nation by 147 of 193 Member States of the United Nations. Source: SBS News

The bombing of Israel from Gaza – which, according to the Ministry of Health of the territory, killed at least 60,430 people – as a retribution for killing Hamas of more than 1,170 people in Israel on 7 October in 2023, has renewed the support in Europe for Palestinian state.

In 2024 the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados recognized a Palestinian state.

Later that year, Spain, Norway and Ireland accepted the efforts in Western Europe, in the hope that the symbolic move would help work on a two-state solution.

How did Australia’s policy shifted?

Albanian in advance the state in August, when Australia joins 14 other countries with the welcome of obligations of the Palestinian authority.
These include promises to demilituish a state that they promised militant group of Hamas.
Albanian repeated the dedication of Australia to a two-state solution in the Middle East who would enable a Palestinian state and Israel to exist peacefully side by side, including a cease-fire and the release of hostages taken on October 7, 2023.

Recognition has already been signed by the Australian cabinet and requires no ratification in parliament or a UN voice to take effect. It is now the official government policy.

A man and a woman in a suit under a building

Prime Minister Anthony Albanian and Foreign Minister Penny Wong Wonen Meetings at a high level in the United Nations in New York. Source: MONKEY / Lukas Coch/Aapimage

It breaks decades of bipping support for recognition to arrive at the end of a peace process, with opposition leader Sussan Ley and spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Michaelia Cash who strongly opposes the call.

“The Albanian government expands a hollow gesture of false hope to the Palestinian people,” Ley said in the joint statement.
“For the Israeli people, it expands a horrifying act of concession to the Hamas terrorists who continue to look for their destruction.
“The coalition opposes this decision and evokes that it will be reversed.”
-With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters

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