ALGIERS DECLARATION

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What was the Algiers Declaration of a Palestinian State in 1988?

On November 15, 1988, a Palestinian state was proclaimed by Yasser Arafat at a meeting of the Palestine National Council in Algiers. This was the second declaration of such a state, the first being at a meeting in Gaza in October 1, 1948 during Israel's War of Independence. Both the Gaza and the Algiers declarations are largely irrelevant today, notwithstanding that the Algiers Declaration received enormous attention at the time.

Coming about a year after the outbreak of the intifada and four months after Jordan's King Hussein severed the kingdom's long-standing ties with the West Bank, the Algiers declaration marked an effort to fill a vacuum and a signal of intent for the future. Since the PLO did not control the intended Palestinian territory, it was only a symbolic act.

The Palestine National Council based the Algiers declaration of Palestinian statehood on UN Resolution 181, the 1947 Partition Plan which divided Mandate Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. But by citing this UN decision, the Palestinian leadership was on shaky ground, as it contradicted their own Palestinian Covenant and their own oft-repeated statements that 181 is "null and void". They wanted to negate Resolution 181 because Israel based its own declaration of the State of Israel on that UN resolution. Arab rejection of Resolution 181 and initiation of hostilities in 1947-48 had prevented implementation of the UN's recommendation. Israel was the only relevant party prepared to uphold the terms of 181 at the time.

Despite the essential contradiction, the PLO's permanent representative at the UN submitted the Algiers declaration to the world body on December 15, 1988 for a vote. Continuing its tradition of anti-Israel bias, the UN General Assembly adopted by a vote of 104-2 (the US and Israel against, with 36 abstentions) resolution 43/177, citing the Algiers declaration, and stating that the Palestinian people have the right to declare a state according to Resolution 181. The UN decision also included a provision elevating the PLO's observer status by replacing references to the "Palestine Liberation Organization" with "Palestine" in all UN bodies.

Following the UN vote, 89 nations (including Turkey, Greece, India, China, the Soviet Union, Pakistan and Austria) recognized the independent state of "Palestine". This is extraordinatry given that the self-proclaimed Palestinian "state" lacks the fundamental qualifications of a state under established international law.

The real significance of the Algiers declaration was that it advanced the negotiations between the PLO and the United States as discussed on the page titled Why did the PLO suddenly decide, in 1988, that Israel had a right to exist?.

Sources and additional reading on this topic:

• The Algiers Declaration
• The year the Arabs discovered Palestine
• A bittersweet holiday for some Palestinians
• International Recognition of a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State