SAT Desk
Three-quarters of UN members have already or soon plan to recognize Palestinian statehood, with Australia on Monday becoming the latest to promise it will at the UN General Assembly in September.
The Israel-Hamas war, raging in Gaza since the Palestinian fighter's resistance campaign on October 7, 2023, has revived a global push for Palestinians to be given a state of their own.
The action breaks with a long-held view that Palestinians could only gain statehood as part of a negotiated peace with Israel.
According to an AFP tally, at least 145 of the 193 UN members now recognize or plan to recognize a Palestinian State, including France, Canada and Britain. Here is a quick recap of the Palestinians' quest for statehood:
1988: Arafat proclaims state
On November 15, 1988, during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising against Israeli rule, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally proclaimed an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital. He made the announcement in Algiers at a meeting of the exiled Palestinian National Council, which adopted the two-state solution as a goal, with independent Israeli and Palestinian States existing side-by-side.
Minutes later, Algeria became the first country to officially recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Within a week, dozens of other countries, including much of the Arab world, India, Turkey, most of Africa and several central and eastern European countries followed suit.
