Palestine and the United Nations
The United Nations and the State of Palestine
The State of Palestine has been involved with the United Nations for many decades. Since November 29, 2012, Palestine has had the status of a non-member observer state at the UN, and its permanent representative is Riyad Mansour. In recent years, the UN has continued to be a major arena for debates, resolutions, and efforts related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
A long history of UN action began after World War II. In 1947, the UN General Assembly approved a plan to partition Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states with a special status for Jerusalem. The plan led to the creation of Israel in 1948 and sparked war, displacement, and refugee issues that the UN has continued to address ever since. The UN created the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to help Palestinian refugees, and it has supported Palestinian rights and questions through various bodies and committees, such as the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the UN Division for Palestinian Rights.
Key early milestones include the 1947 partition plan (Resolution 181) and the 1948–49 period that produced UN resolutions on refugees and Jerusalem, followed by the 1949 admission of Israel to the UN. After the 1948 war, the UN established UNRWA to aid refugees. The 1967 Six-Day War brought new conflicts and the bellwether Security Council Resolution 242, which introduced the land-for-peace idea and became a cornerstone for peace talks.
Over the years, the UN’s work on Palestine grew more formal. In 1974, Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian leadership addressed the General Assembly, and in 1975 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) gained permanent observer status. In 1988, the Palestinian National Council declared the State of Palestine. In 1998, the UN General Assembly granted Palestine additional rights inside the UN system, including participation in debates and the ability to raise issues.
Peace efforts continued with the Camp David talks in 2000 and the Road Map for Peace in 2002, though a final settlement has not yet been reached. The conflict and its humanitarian impact have repeatedly drawn UN attention, including investigations and commissions on human rights and the law.
In 2012, the UN General Assembly upgraded Palestine’s status to a non-member observer state. This upgrade, approved by a wide majority, gave Palestine more access to UN bodies and the right to join international treaties and organizations, such as the International Criminal Court. It also allowed Palestine to describe its mission at the UN as the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations.
From 2016 onward, UN resolutions have kept pressuring all sides to halt illegal settlement activity and to pursue peace negotiations. For example, Security Council Resolution 2334 in 2016 urged Israel to halt settlement expansion in occupied Palestinian territory, though progress has remained stalled.
The Palestinian question is also tied to refugees and the special agency UNRWA, which serves Palestinian refugees and their descendants, a distinction that UNHCR handles for other refugees around the world.
In recent years, there has been debate within the UN about statehood and recognition. By 2025, many countries recognize the State of Palestine as sovereign over the West Bank and Gaza, even as others do not. The issue of full UN membership has been contested at the Security Council; in April 2024, the United States vetoed a draft resolution on Palestinian statehood. In May 2024 the General Assembly recognized that Palestine met the requirements for UN membership and granted it some new rights at the UN, though voting rights were not given. The upgrade to “non-member observer state with enhanced rights” took effect in September 2024, allowing Palestine to participate more fully in UN activities without full voting power.
Today, Palestine is recognized by many UN members as a sovereign entity in practice and can engage with UN bodies, join treaties, and bring issues to international courts. The UN continues to host discussions, humanitarian work, and diplomacy centered on its ongoing struggle for a negotiated two-state solution and the rights of the Palestinian people.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:44 (CET).