Today, according to the Washington Post (via the Associated Press), Brazil is formally recognizing Palestine as an independent and autonomous nation state based on 1967 borders.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva... sent a letter to Abbas on Dec. 1, saying Brazil recognizes Palestine and hopes that the recognition will help lead to states of Israel and Palestine "that will coexist peacefully and in security."With the so-called peace process continuously undermined by Israel's gimmickry and bad-faith negotiations on the part of the USA for much of the past decade, there is little reason to believe that there will ever be an independent Palestine under the current settings. Brazil's recognition therefore is an interesting and potentially thorny issue for Israel. The PLO formally declared Palestine as independent state in 1988 and at least 102 other nations also recognize it as such. There are another 44 states, that have some form of informal recognition of the PLO or the PNA in governing the Israeli controlled occupied territories.
If the rest of the world realizes that Israel has no intention of ever surrendering the occupied territories over to an independent Palestinian government, then it is likely more Western countries will follow Brazil's stance.
There are a number of different types of nations. For example, Abkazia is a nation that was cut off from Georgia during the brief war with Russia. Few if any consider it an independent nation-state. There are countries like Scotland, which have some autonomy, but are not outright independent states and exist in a union. Likewise, all American states have some autonomy, but none can be considered, given the restrictions of the federal government and constitution as being independent nations; although you'll find Texans and Southerners who incorrectly disagree.
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