Politics
CARICOM Countries Align to Recognize Palestine as a State After 13-Year Process
After 13 years, all 14 CARICOM states now recognize Palestine as a State as of May 7, 2024. The delay was influenced by US opposition to UN recognition.
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Originally published by barbadostoday.bb (opens in new tab)
After 13 years, the 14 independent member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have finally aligned their individual positions on recognising Palestine as a State.
As of May 7, 2024, all 14 CARICOM states now recognise Palestine as a State. The most recent countries to do so were Barbados on April 19, Jamaica on April 22, Trinidad and Tobago on May 2, and The Bahamas on May 7.
The 13-year delay in CARICOM countries reaching a common position on Palestine was largely influenced by the United States. Successive US administrations have opposed the United Nations’ recognition of Palestine as a State and have consistently pressured countries worldwide to follow suit.
Indeed, when six CARICOM countries chose to recognise Palestine in 2011, the US was notably displeased. Although the US has long advocated for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it insists that Palestinian statehood should emerge from a negotiated agreement with Israel. In 2011, as remains true today, the absence of ongoing dialogue and a viable agreement between Israel and the Palestinians led the US to withhold support for unilateral recognition of Palestine.
Partly in response to the US pressuring the Palestinian Authority to withdraw its 2011 UN membership application, six CARICOM member states chose to recognise Palestine as a state at that time. The US stance, threatening to veto any Palestinian application, was widely perceived as inequitable.
Motivated by empathy for the historical struggles and quest for self-determination of the Palestinians, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname decided to recognise Palestine as a State. Within the next four years, Grenada and Haiti joined them in 2013, followed by Saint Lucia in 2015, and St Kitts and Nevis in 2019.
To be clear, the decision of the 10 CARICOM countries to recognise Palestine was not antisemitic then, nor is it now. All 14 CARICOM countries have maintained continuous diplomatic relations with Israel. For instance, Haiti recognised the State of Israel in 1949 after supporting the UN’s 1947 partition plan that led to the creation of Israel.
Regarding diplomatic ties with Israel, several of the longest-standing CARICOM members established connections shortly after their independence: Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in 1962, Barbados in 1967, and The Bahamas in 1974. This pattern continued with Grenada in 1975, Dominica in 1978, Saint Lucia in 1979, St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1981, Antigua and Barbuda in 1983, St Kitts and Nevis in 1984, and Belize in 1985. Guyana was the last to establish diplomatic relations, doing so in 1992.
Before recognising Palestine as a State, these Caribbean nations not only maintained diplomatic relations with Israel but also consistently supported a two-state solution. They advocated for Israel and Palestine to exist as neighbouring states within mutually agreed boundaries.
Until 2011, all CARICOM countries remained neutral in the Israel-Palestine conflict. They engaged with Israel as a UN member state and developed various economic cooperation and technical assistance programmes with it. Meanwhile, Israel maintained a strong diplomatic presence in the Caribbean, in its quest to keep Caribbean countries at least neutral in the UN.
