Following similar moves by the UK, France and Canada, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced that Australia will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.
Speaking at a news conference, Albanese disclosed that Australia received commitments from the Palestinian Authority (PA). He noted that these “detailed and significant commitments” include the PA reaffirming it recognises Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, and committing to “demilitarise and to hold general elections.”
The PA is a governing body that has overseen parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the mid-90s. It has not held parliamentary elections since 2006 and has been criticised by some Palestinians for helping Israel to keep tight control over residents in the West Bank.
Albanese asserted that a two-state solution is “humanity’s best hope” to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza.
He said that the decision was made after his government received commitments from Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas would play no role in any future state.
Albanese stressed that the commitments secured by Australia were “an opportunity to deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine in a way that isolates Hamas, disarms it and drives it out of the region once and for all.”
Additionally, the Australian Prime Minister stated that the move comes after conversations with his counterparts in the UK, France, New Zealand, and Japan over the past fortnight.
“There is a moment of opportunity here, and Australia will work with the international community to seize it.”
Anthony Albanese
The Palestinian Authority, which controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, earlier said recognition of statehood shows growing support for self-determination of its people.
Australia’s Move To Recognise Palestinian State Criticised
Australia’s opposition Liberal Party criticised the move, saying that it put Australia at odds with the United States, its closest ally, and reversed a bipartisan consensus that there should be no recognition while Hamas remains in control of Gaza.
Liberal Party leader, Sussan Ley said in a statement that despite his words today, the reality is Albanese has committed Australia to recognising Palestine while hostages remain in tunnels under Gaza and with Hamas still in control of the population of Gaza.
“Nothing he has said today changes that fact. Recognising a Palestinian state prior to a return of the hostages and defeat of Hamas, as the Government has today, risks delivering Hamas one of its strategic objectives of the horrific terrorism of October 7.”
Sussan Ley
The Australian Greens, the fourth-largest party in parliament, welcomed the move to recognise Palestine, but said the announcement did not meet the “overwhelming calls from the Australian public for the government to take material action.”
Senator David Shoebridge, the party’s Spokesperson on foreign affairs, said in a statement that millions of Australians have taken to the streets, including 300,000 last weekend in Sydney alone, calling for sanctions and an end to the arms trade with Israel. “The Albanese Government is still ignoring this call,” he added.
Albanese’s announcement comes about a week after hundreds of thousands of Australians marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to protest Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
Also, the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) also criticised the announcement in a statement, describing it as a “political fig leaf, letting Israel’s genocide and apartheid continue unchallenged, and distracting from Australia’s complicity in Israeli war crimes via ongoing weapons and components trade.”
APAN asserted that Palestinian rights are “not a gift to be granted by Western states.” “They are not dependent on negotiation with, or the behaviour or approval of their colonial oppressors,” APAN said in the statement.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,430 people, according to Gaza’s health authorities. Close to 200 people, including 96 children, have died from starvation under Israel’s punishing siege, according to health authorities.
Of the UN’s 193 member states, 147 already recognise Palestinian statehood, representing some three-quarters of the world’s countries and the vast majority of its population.
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