Recently, Canada, Australia, and Portugal have joined the United Kingdom in formally recognizing Palestinian statehood as Israel plans to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank and intensifies its war on Gaza.
In a significant shift of diplomatic momentum, a growing wave of countries is formally recognizing the State of Palestine, a move accelerated by the war in Gaza and evolving geopolitical calculations.
What was once a protracted aspiration is rapidly becoming a pressing international imperative, with the potential to fundamentally alter Palestine’s status at the United Nations and redraw the contours of Middle Eastern politics.
The groundwork for the present momentum was laid many years ago. On November 15, 1988, during the height of the first Palestinian intifada, Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, declared the establishment of an independent Palestinian state while in Algiers.
Just moments after the announcement, Algeria became the first country to officially recognize the new state. That initial surge of support led to a cascade of recognitions from nations across the Arab world, as well as from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe—collectively forming a foundational layer of international legitimacy for the Palestinian national movement.
A second major wave of recognition emerged between the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, spearheaded primarily by influential Latin American nations such as Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. This phase also marked a deliberate shift in strategy by the Palestinian leadership, focusing on securing full recognition of statehood through the institutional framework of the United Nations.
That campaign achieved a groundbreaking victory on October 31, 2011, when UNESCO, the UN’s cultural agency, voted to admit Palestine as a full member. The move was both symbolic and practical, demonstrating that Palestine could function as a state within the UN’s specialized agencies.
According to Al Jazeera, the State of Palestine is recognized by 147 of the 193 UN member states, a significant majority of just over 75%.
But that recognition still does not give Palestine an official seat at the UN, which can only be approved by the Security Council.
The US, a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power, has already rejected calls for recognition at this moment.
But in the US as well as other Western countries, domestic pressure to back the Palestinian cause is strengthening.
Alongside recognition of Palestinian statehood, several Western states have imposed sanctions on Israel or are threatening to do so.
The ongoing war in Gaza has acted as a powerful accelerant, forcing a re-evaluation of long-standing policies. The staggering humanitarian cost and the political paralysis surrounding a ceasefire have led many European capitals to conclude that diplomatic gestures like recognition can no longer be withheld as a final reward for a peace process that has consistently failed to deliver.
Proponents argue that this reinforced legitimacy is crucial for Palestine’s standing in international forums. With enhanced statehood recognition, Palestine could potentially accede to more international treaties and have greater standing to bring cases against Israel at institutions like the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice, where it is already a party to the Genocide Convention.
Furthermore, diplomats suggest that a critical mass of European recognition could eventually pressure the UN Security Council to reconsider Palestine’s long-standing application for full UN membership, a move that would represent the most significant upgrade to its international status since the 1988 declaration.
This diplomatic groundswell, moving from the periphery to the very heart of Western consensus, has created an unprecedented reality: Israel is facing strategic isolation not from its traditional opponents, but from its own allies.
The decisions by Canada, Australia, Portugal, and the United Kingdom are not merely symbolic; they represent a fundamental rupture in the long-standing Western position that statehood should be the endpoint of negotiations, not a precursor.
This shift effectively corners the United States, leaving its veto power at the UN Security Council as the last, increasingly brittle, barrier to full Palestinian membership.
The path forward is now clearly mapped. With over 75 percent of UN members already in recognition, the focus shifts to the General Assembly.
There, a vote is imminent to grant Palestine enhanced rights short of full membership, a move that would solidify its status as a de facto state.
More critically, this overwhelming majority will create immense political pressure on the Security Council. While a US veto remains likely in the short term, the nation’s diplomatic cost for wielding it will become prohibitive.
It will no longer be seen as upholding a peace process, but as obstructing the will of the international community in defense of an isolated Israel.
This isolation will have tangible consequences. Bolstered by near-universal recognition, Palestine’s ability to pursue legal and diplomatic avenues will be significantly strengthened.
Its standing at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court will be unassailable, opening new avenues to challenge Israeli policies.
The growing wave is, therefore, not an end in itself, but the essential precondition for the final, inevitable step.
It systematically constructs an irrefutable case for statehood that will, in time, make the US veto unsustainable.
The goal is no longer just recognition; it is full UN membership, and the international community is now actively paving the road to that reality, leaving Israel increasingly alone on the world stage.
Reported by Tohid Mahmoudpour
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