With Norway, Ireland and Spain announcing today, Wednesday, the recognition of the State of Palestine, the number of European Union member states recognizing Palestine rises to 12 out of 27 countries.

After establishing relations between the European Union and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1975 as part of the Arab-European dialogue, Sweden in 2014 became the first member state of the European Union in Western Europe to recognize a Palestinian state, noting that the other countries - Malta and Cyprus, as well as the Eastern European countries that were part From the "Soviet camp" at the time (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania) recognized Palestine in 1988 before it joined the European Union.

It is noteworthy that Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez was the first leader in Western Europe to host PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat in September 1979.

In 1986, the Spanish authorities granted official status to the Palestine Liberation Organization representation, which opened in Madrid in 1972.

In February 1980, Ireland became the first Western member to call for the establishment of a Palestinian state, and it was also the last country to allow Israel to open a “resident embassy” in its territory in December 1993.

Among the G20 members, ten countries - Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey - recognize Palestine as a state.

Now the State of Palestine as a sovereign state is recognized by 146 countries out of 193 member states of the United Nations. Palestine has become a “non-member observer state” in the United Nations General Assembly since November 2012.

On April 18, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, by a majority of 143 votes, a resolution declaring the State of Palestine’s eligibility for full membership in the United Nations.