NEW YORK — About 10 countries including Australia, Belgium, Britain and Canada are expected to formally recognise an independent Palestinian state on Monday at a summit before the annual leaders’ gathering at the UN General Assembly.
What would that mean for the Palestinians and Israel?
The Palestine Liberation Organisation declared an independent Palestinian state in 1988, and most of the global South quickly recognised it. Today, 147 of the 193 UN member states have done so — most recently Mexico, in January.
Israel’s main ally, the United States, has long said it will recognise a Palestinian state, but only after the Palestinians agree with Israel on a “two-state solution”. Until recent weeks, the major European powers shared this position.
However, no such negotiations have been held since 2014, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now said there will never be a Palestinian state.
A delegation representing the State of Palestine has observer status at the United Nations — but no voting rights. No matter how many countries recognise Palestinian independence, full UN membership would require approval by the Security Council, where Washington has a veto.
Palestinian diplomatic missions worldwide are controlled by the Palestinian Authority, which is recognised internationally as representing the Palestinian people.
The PA, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank under agreements with Israel. It issues Palestinian passports and runs the Palestinian health and education systems.
The Gaza Strip has been administered by the Hamas militant group since 2007, when it drove out Abbas’s Fatah movement after a brief civil war, although the PA still funds many salaries.
Most major powers, with the exception of the US since President Donald Trump moved its embassy to Jerusalem, have their main diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv because they do not recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
However, about 40 have consular offices in Ramallah in the West Bank, or in East Jerusalem — an area whose annexation by Israel is not internationally recognised, which the Palestinians want as their capital.
They include China, Russia, Japan, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and South Africa.
Countries planning to recognise a Palestinian state have not said what difference that would make to their diplomatic representation.
