Mapping which countries recognise Palestine in 2024

Norway, Ireland and Spain have announced they will formally recognise Palestine as a state on Tuesday.

Wednesday’s announcement has prompted Israel to immediately recall its envoys to Ireland and Norway for “urgent consultations”.

“Today, I am sending a sharp message to Ireland and Norway: Israel will not go over this in silence,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. He threatened to also withdraw the Israeli ambassador from Spain.

In addition, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he will stop transferring tax funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel, which occupies the West Bank illegally under international law, is required to transfer taxes collected from the Palestinian territory to the PA, which governs it.

Norway, Spain and Ireland made their announcements as a growing number of nations are publicly considering the recognition of Palestine as a state. That is especially so in Europe, traditionally an outlier on the issue. Slovenia, Malta and Belgium are other nations on the continent that are discussing whether and when to recognise Palestinian statehood. At the moment, in addition to Norway, Ireland and Spain, nine other European countries recognise the state.

Countries that recognised Palestine in 2024

This month, 143 of the 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly voted in favour of Palestine joining the UN, something only states can do.

Most of the Middle East, Africa and Asia recognise Palestinian statehood. However, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and many Western European states do not.

The countries who have recognised Palestine this year are the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados.

Recognition from 2011 to 2023

In 2011, despite Palestine’s failure to join the UN after campaigning for full membership, UNESCO granted the Palestinians full membership in the UN cultural agency, leading the US to defund the body.

In 2012, the General Assembly voted in favour of changing Palestine’s status to “nonmember observer state”, and in 2015, the International Criminal Court recognised Palestine as a party.

In 2014, Sweden became the first country in Western Europe to recognise Palestine.

These are the countries that have recognised Palestine in the past 12 years:

2023: Mexico

2019: Saint Kitts and Nevis

2018: Colombia

2015: Saint Lucia

2014: Sweden

2013: Guatemala, Haiti, the Vatican

2012: Thailand

2011: Chile, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Lesotho, South Sudan, Syria, Liberia, El Salvador, Honduras, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Iceland

Recognition from 2000 to 2010

Under the Oslo Accords, by May 4, 1999, there was supposed to be an independent Palestine. However, the new millennium marked the beginning of the second Intifada.

These are the countries that recognised Palestine in the first decade of this century:

2010: Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador

2009: Venezuela, Dominican Republic

2008: Costa Rica, Lebanon, Ivory Coast

2006: Montenegro

2005: Paraguay

2004: East Timor

Recognition from 1989 to 1999

The first Oslo Accord was signed on September 13, 1993. The agreement between Israeli and Palestinian leaders saw each side recognise the other for the first time.

Both sides also pledged to end their decades-long conflict. A second accord was signed in September 1995. The Oslo Accords were supposed to bring about Palestinian self-determination in the form of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Here are the nations that recognised Palestine in the last decade of the 20th century:

1998: Malawi

1995: South Africa, Kyrgyzstan

1994: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Papua New Guinea

1992: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina

1991: Eswatini

1989: Rwanda, Ethiopia, Iran, Benin, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Vanuatu, Philippines

1988

On November 15, 1988, in the early years of the first Intifada, Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, proclaimed Palestine as an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

He did so from Algiers, and Algeria became the first country to officially recognise Palestine.

Most of the European countries recognising Palestine did so as part of the former Soviet bloc:

1988: Algeria, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cuba, Jordan, Madagascar, Malta, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Zambia, Albania, Brunei, Djibouti, Mauritius, Sudan, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Egypt, The Gambia, India, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Vietnam, China, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cambodia, Mali, Mongolia, Senegal, Hungary, Cape Verde, North Korea, Niger, Romania, Tanzania, Bulgaria, Maldives, Ghana, Togo, Zimbabwe, Chad, Laos, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Republic of Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Oman, Poland, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Botswana, Nepal, Burundi, Central African Republic, Bhutan, Western Sahara