That 145 out of the 193 UN member states have recognized a Palestinian state has infuriated Israel. We remember on November 15, 1988, during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally proclaimed an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Soon after, Algeria became the first to recognize an independent Palestinian state officially. Sweden, which has a large Palestinian community, became the first EU member in Western Europe in 2014, to recognize a Palestinian state. Malta and Slovenia have also expressed readiness to recognize a Palestinian state when the circumstances will be right.
