What countries recognize Palestine internationally and what is the United States’ position?

In 1947 the United Nations General Assembly approved a plan for the partition of Palestine. This recommended the creation of an independent Arab State as well as a neighbouring Jewish State.

One year later, Israel proclaimed its independence coinciding with the end of the British Mandate over Palestine and its Arab neighbours attacked. This war, that ended in 1949, let to the signing of an armistice between Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan and Syria, as well as the size of Israel growing by a quarter and then controlling three-quarters of Palestine proper.

After several decades of confrontations between both parties, the 1993 Oslo Accords came close to a lasting peace. It was a series of peace agreements between both Israel and Palestine with the aim of reaching an agreement to seek a definitive solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Palestine recognised Israel as a country and disarmed, though Israel refused to do the same.

Palestine has fought for its right to exist at the UN with partial success. Of the 193 member states of the United Nations, 139 recognize Palestine as a country, so it still has limited recognition.

Without diplomatic recognition, Palestine is isolated from international organisations and diplomacy, making it challenging to participate in international agreements.

Recognition of Palestine

In North America, none of the three countries, United States, Mexico and Canada, recognise Palestine. It has the full recognition of all the countries of South and Central America, with the exception of Panama.

Among the other countries that do not recognise Palestine is much of western Europe. Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark, Croatia, Latvia, Moldova and Estonia are some of them. Other European countries such as Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Lithuania and Slovenia, also do not officially recognise Palestine but do have diplomatic offices there.

That does not mean Europe as a whole has one policy. Palestine is recognised by Iceland, Sweden, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania. It is also recognised by Russia.

In Oceania it does not have international recognition. In contrast Japan and South Korea are the only Asian nations that do not recognise Palestine. Despite this, both Asian countries have diplomatic institutions in Palestinian territory. China, India, Indonesia and the rest of the Asian countries do recognize Palestine as a country. In Africa, the only ones that do not recognize Palestine are Cameroon and Eritrea.