Palestine · A closer look
2012
A seat, not yet a state
On 29 November 2012, sixty-five years to the day after the partition vote, the UN General Assembly recognised Palestine as a non-member observer state, by 138 votes to 9. By late 2025 more than 150 of the UN's 193 members had recognised the State of Palestine, including the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Australia.
What changed in 2012
The General Assembly voted by 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions, to give Palestine non-member observer State status. The decision changed its status within the UN system and carried considerable diplomatic weight. It followed decades in which the PLO had participated as an observer. The date, 29 November, also connected the decision with the anniversary of the 1947 partition resolution.
Recognition and statehood
Resolution 67/19 affirmed Palestinian self-determination and independence and referred to a negotiated two-state settlement. Diplomatic recognition, however, is not the same as effective control over territory, borders or resources. The vote did not remove Israeli forces, resolve the refugee question or determine a final border. Its significance lay in the international standing it conferred and the legal and diplomatic avenues associated with that standing.
Observer status is not full membership
Admission as a full UN member requires a Security Council recommendation followed by a General Assembly decision. A large Assembly majority alone cannot complete that process. Observer-state participation therefore remained a different category from membership, even as individual governments made their own recognition decisions. Keeping these distinctions clear helps explain how Palestine could be recognised as a state by many countries while still lacking both full UN membership and sovereignty on the ground.
Source: United Nations: Palestine’s status at the UN explained