France, Luxembourg and Malta are amongst the countries expected to formally recognise the state of Palestine during the United Nations in New York.
At least five European countries are expected to announce their recognition later today.
Canada, Australia, Portugal and the UK announced their recognition yesterday.
More than a dozen European countries, including Ireland, already recognise Palestine as a state. Most of Africa, Asia and south America also already recognises Palestine.
When Ireland, Norway and Spain coordinated their recognition announcement last year, they were heavily criticised by Israel. The same is expected to happen today.
This year’s coordinated announcement of recognition is expected to take place at the High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine.
The conference, hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, is being held in New York, alongside the United Nations General Assembly.
French President, Emmanual Macron, is due to speak at the conference this afternoon and is expected to use the speech as the moment to declare France’s recognition of Palestine.
“This recognition is part of a comprehensive peace plan for the region, aimed at meeting the aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians for security and peace”, the president wrote on social media ahead of the conference.
The full list of countries announcing their recognition this week are: Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Portugal, Malta, the United Kingdom, and San Marino.
It is understood that the Taoiseach will attend the meeting on Palestine today.
Tánaiste Simon Harris TD is also in New York. He will meet his EU counterparts today on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Harris, who is also Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, says he will use the opportunity to highlight the conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan.
Speaking ahead of his arrival in New York, Simon Harris said:
“I will meet with partners to discuss a range of issues, in particular the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza and the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire, release of hostages and humanitarian access at scale, our continued efforts to end Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and the situation in Sudan, which continues to deteriorate causing untold suffering for the Sudanese people.”
On Wednesday, he will speak at the Global Alliance for Implementation of the Two State Solution High Level Meeting of Foreign Ministers.
The Palestinian Authority have been given special permission to join the UN meetings by video link after the US denied Palestinian representatives visas meaning they will be unable to attend in person.