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 Palestine |  Ukraine |
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Palestine–Ukraine relations are bilateral relations between theState of Palestine andUkraine. TheUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic recognized Palestinian independence on 19 November 1988.[1] Palestine recognized Ukraine as a sovereign state in February 1992.[2] On 2 November 2001, the two countries established diplomatic relations and the Palestinian embassy opened the same day.[3] Ukraine has supported UN resolutions againstIsrael's occupation of thePalestinian territories.
The Ukrainian SSR voted in favor of theUnited Nations plan for the partition of Palestine in 1947.[4] The Soviet Union later set up a university exchange programme to let Palestinian medical students study in Ukraine. Relationships started by participants in the programme led to the growth of a Ukrainian community in Palestine, growing to around 1500 Ukrainian Palestinians by the 2020s.[5]
In April 1999, PresidentYasser Arafat visitedKyiv and met with PresidentLeonid Kuchma.[6] In January 2000, Leonid Kuchma, visited theWest Bank to take part in the commemoration of the 2000th anniversary of Christianity inBethlehem, and met with the leader of thePalestinian National Authority (PNA), Yasser Arafat. During an official visit by PresidentViktor Yushchenko to Palestine in November 2007, an agreement was reached with PresidentMahmoud Abbas to open a Ukrainian Mission to the PNA.[7]
In November 2014, the Palestinian ambassador to Ukraine, Mohammed Qasem Al-Assad, said of the Palestinian approach to theconflict in eastern Ukraine: "We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and we believe that theDonbas was, is and will be a part of Ukraine".[8]
ThePalestinian Authority has not taken a public position on theRussian invasion of Ukraine. Abbas and most of the Palestinian leadership have elected to remain neutral on the conflict, as they "seek to keep having good relations with both parties".[9][10] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Israel for support, stating, "We intend to live, but our neighbors want to see us dead."[11] In October 2023, protests in solidarity with Gaza were held in the city ofHebron, with Palestinian demonstrators waving Russian flags and posters bearing images of Russian president Vladimir Putin.[12]
In December 2016, Ukraine as a non-permanent member ofUnited Nations Security Council voted in favor ofresolution 2334, which criticised Israel's settlement policy in theWest Bank. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry considered the resolution's text balanced since it also urged the Palestinian side to adopt measures to counter terrorism.[13] Ukraine's ambassador to the UN,Volodymyr Yelchenko, likened Israel's settlement of the West Bank to theRussian occupation of Crimea.[14]
In January 2020, Ukraine withdrew from theCommittee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP). This decision was approved byUkrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky.[15]
In November 2022, Ukraine supported a UN resolution that asked theInternational Court of Justice to investigate Israel's "prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation ofPalestinian territory". In response, Israel summoned and admonished the Ukrainian ambassador.[16] Shortly after, in "an apparent act of retaliation", Israel did not vote for a UN resolution calling on Russia to pay reparations for invading Ukraine.[17]
During theGaza war, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry condemned attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza and supported atwo-state solution to the conflict.[18] More than 300 Ukrainian scholars, activists and artists expressed solidarity with Palestinians in an open letter.[19] Most of the Ukrainian community in Gaza was forced to flee the country because of the war.[20]
On 2 June 2024, Zelensky reiterated Ukraine's support for a two-state solution. He remarked that, while Ukraine has supported Israel's right for self-defence againstHamas duringthe attacks in October 2023, duringthe humanitarian crisis Ukraine said that it is ready to help Gaza humanitarianly and it "will do everything so that Israel stops and civilians do not suffer."[21]
On 18 July 2024, Ukraine sent a gift of 1,000 tons of its wheat flour to the Palestinian territories. According to the foreign ministry, the package will be enough to support more than 100,000 Palestinian families for a month.[22][23]
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