Diplomatic efforts to recognize a Palestinian state have been ongoing for many years, with most countries around the world having made the decision to recognize Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations. The Palestinian Authority has recently restarted this process, with 137 out of 193 UN states having recognized an independent Palestinian state. However, there are exceptions in Western Europe, North America, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.
In 1988, Yasser Arafat declared the establishment of a Palestinian state following the start of the first Intifada. Algeria was the first country to officially recognize an independent Palestinian state, followed by forty other countries including China, India, Turkey and most Arab nations. Africa, the Soviet bloc, Central America and Latin America also joined in recognizing the Palestinian state.
The Palestinians have been making diplomatic efforts on the international stage for many years now. They gained observer status at the United Nations in 2012 and became full members of UNESCO in 2011. This new status allowed them to join the International Criminal Court in 2015 despite objections from some countries including Israel and the US. Some European countries such as Sweden and others have recognized Palestine under certain circumstances while others like Spain and France have hinted at their willingness to do so under specific conditions.
Despite these efforts to recognize a Palestinian state, there is still ongoing impasse in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which has led strained relations between some European countries and Israel.