In October 2014, Sweden’s new left-wing government became the first member of the European Union (EU) to recognize the State of Palestine. Previously, Malta and Cyprus had recognized Palestine, but that was before they joined the EU. In addition, a number of Central European member states have also recognized Palestine when they were part of the Soviet Union. It is a bit unclear what the status of their recognitions is today, as some of these states (the Czech Republic in particular) have emerged as Israel’s closest allies in Europe.

Israel had initially feared that Sweden’s recognition would unleash an avalanche of similar recognitions and other types of actions against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. While no avalanche was unleashed against Israel, the Swedish recognition did create a certain momentum for the Palestinians, as parliaments in a number of other EU member states (Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Spain and Italy) adopted resolutions supporting Palestinian statehood and urged their governments to follow Sweden’s lead. The big questions for the future are whether other EU members will follow Sweden and what consequences that might have for resolving the conflict.