Portugal, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada on Sunday joined the group of countries from around the world that recognise a Palestinian state. 

The announcements come ahead of the United Nations General Assembly this week. Portugal formally recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday, the country’s foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, announced in New York.

Rangel said that the two-state solution is the only path to a just and lasting peace, local media reported, adding that the administration affirms Israel’s right to exist and its effective security needs, and that it once again condemns the heinous terrorist attacks on 7 October by Hamas.

The move comes hours after the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia did the same, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, which opens on Tuesday.

More countries are expected to join the list of countries recognising a Palestinian state at a UN summit this week, including France, which, like the UK, is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council.

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France is making the opening of an embassy in Palestine conditional on the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview broadcast by the US television network CBS.

Israeli authorities have condemned the recognition, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arguing that it destabilises the region and strengthens Hamas.

The United States called the recognition a “theatrical move.” The priorities are clear: the release of the hostages, the security of Israel and peace and prosperity for the entire region, which is only possible without Hamas, a US State Department spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

France and Saudi Arabia will chair a summit on the two-state solution — one Israeli, one Palestinian — that will be attended by dozens of countries, many of which are expected to recognise the state of Palestine, a move likely to draw a strong backlash from the US and Israel.

Israel and the US will boycott the summit, warned Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon, calling it a “circus”. As a possible response, Israel is considering annexing areas of the occupied West Bank, as well as taking measures against Paris, as Israeli officials have indicated.

The US administration has warned there could be repercussions for countries taking action against Israel, including France, whose president Emmanuel Macron is hosting this year’s summit in New York.

Earlier in September, the UN General Assembly approved a seven-page declaration outlining “tangible, time-bound and irreversible steps” towards a two-state solution, while condemning Hamas and calling on it to surrender and disarm.

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Criticism from Israel and the US was immediate, with both countries calling the declaration harmful and a publicity stunt.

France is leading the effort, hoping that Macron’s announcement in July that Paris would recognise a Palestinian state would provide more impetus to a movement that has previously involved smaller countries.

Some countries have indicated that there will be conditions, and others that the normalisation of diplomatic relations will be gradual and will depend on how the Palestinian Authority proceeds with its promised reforms.

Israel insists it opposes the move and does not trust 89-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to follow through on his commitments to reform and modernisation, as outlined in a letter to Macron earlier this year.

Both Abbas and other Palestinian officials will take part in the meeting online, as the US, a staunch ally of Israel, has refused to grant them visas.

Although the Palestinian president called the recognition of a Palestinian state “an important and necessary step toward achieving a just and lasting peace,” some diplomats fear Israeli retaliation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will address the UN General Assembly on Friday, reiterated that there will be no Palestinian state and threatened to expand Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. At the same time, two far-right ministers of his government, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, are demanding the annexation of this region.

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