The Vatican recognizes Palestine as a state in new treaty

1. The Vatican has agreed to a new treaty with Palestinian representatives that refers to them as the State of Palestine, which the Associated Press is reporting as formal recognition of Palestine as a state. A Vatican spokesman told AP, "Yes, it's a recognition that the state exists."
2. The Vatican recognized Palestine as a state after a 2012 UN vote, but this is the first official agreement the Vatican has concluded that recognizes "the state of Palestine." The treaty itself appears to mostly cover the role of the Catholic Church in Palestinian territory.
3. According to the AP, "the treaty is the first legal document negotiated between the Holy See and the Palestinian state."

Why recognizing Palestine matters

Recognizing "the state of Palestine" is mostly a symbolic act: it doesn't in any way make the Palestinian Authority into an independent government. However, Vatican recognition signals to Israel that the Holy See is unhappy with the continued Israeli occupation of territory it sees as Palestinian, and that it sees Palestinian independence as necessary in any peace deal.

Convincing more countries, particularly in Europe, to recognize Palestine is a key part of the new Palestinian strategy to put diplomatic pressure on Israel to end the occupation and negotiate a solution to the conflict that is more favorable to Palestinian interests.

WATCH: Three big reasons war is going away

Update: The headline on this post originally read "Pope Francis just officially recognized Palestine as a state," which as Tablet's Yair Rosenberg notes could be read as overstating the significance of the treaty, given that the Vatican recognized of Palestine in the wake of the UN vote. The headline has been updated.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via