Australia would recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly next month, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said yesterday.
“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 told reporters in Canberra. “Until Israeli and Palestinian statehood is permanent, peace can only be temporary.
“Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own. We will work with the international community to make this right a reality,” he said.
Photo: AP
The Israel-Hamas war, raging in Gaza since the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023, has revived a global push for Palestinians to be given a state of their own.
At least 145 of the 193 UN members recognize or plan to recognize a Palestinian state, including France, Canada and the UK.
“There is a moment of opportunity here, and Australia will work with the international community to seize it,” Albanese said.
Australia’s decision was predicated on reassurances from the Palestinian Authority that there would be “no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state,” he said.
However, the Palestinian Authority does not have a presence in Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas for about two decades.
Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said the decision was symbolic, rather than “genuine progress towards peace.”
“Let us be clear: this decision will not change the reality on the ground,” Maimon said in a statement on social media. “Australia elevates the position of Hamas, a group it acknowledges as a terrorist organisation, while weakening the cause of those working to end violence and achieve genuine, lasting peace.”
Just hours earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized international calls to recognize Palestinian statehood, saying it would “not bring peace, it will bring war.”
“To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole, just like that, fall right into it and buy this canard is disappointing, and I think it’s actually shameful,” he said.
International concern is growing about the plight of the more than 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where the fighting has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of mass starvation.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the UN says are reliable.
Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official figures.
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