Over the past two days, several Western nations announced they are recognizing an independent Palestinian state, just a few weeks before the second anniversary of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

On Sunday, Sept. 21, Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal announced they would formally recognize a Palestinian state, followed on Monday, Sept. 22 by France. Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta are expected to do the same this week, as the globe's top leaders converge in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, where the issue of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the famine in Gaza and a push among several nations for a two-state solution will dominate many agendas.

Palestinian territory encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem − which Palestinians view as their capital − and Gaza.

With these latest decisions, a majority of European nations, and many of the world's largest Western nations, now recognize a Palestinian state. Here’s what it means to acknowledge this formal statehood, and what it could signal moving forward.

What does official statehood mean, and what are the requirements?

Rowan Nicholson, a scholar of international law at Australia's Flinders University, told USA TODAY in 2024 that four criteria are typically required for a region to qualify as a state: a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and independence.

Nicholson said the conditions for statehood are, simultaneously, fairly rigid and a matter of debate.

"The criteria have developed over the centuries through the practice of states," said Nicholson, who has worked on cases before the International Court of Justice. "There’s no single definitive written version of them; they are fuzzy and open to interpretation."

He said there are exceptions as well, such as when a group unlawfully invades an existing state and separates off “part of it, as Russia tried to do a few years ago with Ukraine.”

In the Palestinian context, one reason to doubt Palestine could qualify as a state is that it doesn’t have effective independence from Israel, Nicholson said, as defined by the often-cited Montevideo Convention of 1933 and other, similar formulations.

Israel's military occupies Palestinian lands. Israel supervises some civilian aspects of life in the Fatah-run West Bank, and even before the current war, it largely controlled access to Hamas-run Gaza.

What is the significance of statehood for Palestinians?

One nation officially recognizing the other is, in an effective sense, a diplomatic and legal move. It opens the door to developing full diplomatic relationships between two nations, which could include the establishment of embassies, foreign ambassadors and the creation of various agreements, treaties and other forms of bilateral or multilateral cooperation.

"Whether or not the entity really meets the criteria, the recognizing state commits to treating it as a state for practical purposes," Nicholson said.

That means, he said, it will do things like accept passports, grant sovereign immunity to officials and generally act as if the recognized entity is entitled to govern its own territory.

Beyond the diplomatic and bureaucratic implications, recognitions can also hold significant symbolic weight. France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, said his nation’s decision this week is “a symbolic, immediate, political decision that demonstrates France’s commitment to the two-state solution.”

“The recognition of Palestine is a categorical rejection of Hamas and its definitive isolation,” Barrot told ITV news, according to Reuters reports, ahead of France's official announcement Sept. 22. “It vindicates those Palestinians who have chosen to renounce violence and terrorism."

Legal scholars such as Marc Weller, who chairs international law and constitutional studies at the University of Cambridge, told USA TODAY in May 2024 that "the recognizing states are saying 'we will now change the status (of Palestine) from an entity that ought to be a state into an entity that we claim is a state.'"

"That makes it more difficult for Israel to deny (Palestine) has a right to become a state. The recognitions are deliberately framed to oppose (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's assertions that there can't be a two-state solution," he said.

How many nations have recognized a Palestinian state?

According to the UN’s Regional Information Centre for Western Europe, 148 of the 193 UN member states had already recognized an independent Palestine before this week. Ireland, Norway and Spain joined the list of nations supporting the state in May 2024, followed by Slovenia, Armenia and Mexico in the months after.

With the recent additions on Sept. 22, the number of UN member states that have officially announced their support for Palestinian statehood has reached 153.

The State of Palestine was admitted as a UN observer state in November 2012, and the State of Palestine was created by the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1988. Since then, there have been what the UN Centre calls "waves" of recognition when nations followed suit − when it was first established, and in from 2010 to 2011. The nation of Israel is recognized by 165 member states, the UN Centre says.

Palestinian state recognition and the US

The United States has not recognized Palestinian statehood, and President Donald Trump opposes the move.

The United States was one of the first countries to recognize Israel as an independent state in 1948. It is a major supplier of weapons to Israel. American diplomats have habitually framed Israel as a lone democracy and security partner in the Middle East that shares values and interests with America.

In May 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring that Palestinians qualify for full UN membership status. The Assembly can only grant full membership with the approval of the Security Council, a move that America would likely veto.

Larry Garber, a former U.S. Agency for International Development mission director to the West Bank and Gaza, told USA TODAY last year that the United States had long taken the view that any formal recognition of a Palestinian state should come only through direct negotiation between the relevant parties: between Israelis and Palestinians.

"For many years, we all operated on the basis of a theory that this should be done in stages," Garber said. "First, Palestine should build up the various attributes of a state, such as good governance and an independent economy that operated effectively, then statehood would be the ultimate goal."

Germany and France have echoed this position in the past, though now the two European powerhouses no longer find themselves on the same side of the issue. Germany has not, in recent days, signaled that it intends to recognize an independent Palestinian state as France has. That leaves Germany and Italy as the remaining large European states that have not joined the flurry of EU member state recognitions.

Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What does it mean for countries to recognize Palestinian statehood?

Reporting by Kathryn Palmer and Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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