Australia joins the club of France, the UK and Canada and will, (upon some farcical conditions not necessarily premised being met) Australia will recognize the state of Palestine during the UN General Assembly’s session in September 2025.
“Australia will recognize the rights of the Palestinian people to state of their own… We will work with the international community to make this right a reality. The decision is a part of global coordinated effort for building momentum fortwo states solutions”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanes said.
The PM discussed the proposal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the past fortnight. Prior to the announcement, the PM met his cabinet colleagues and informed them of the international diplomatic dialogue he had had with world leaders.
Prime Minister Albanese is of the view that a two-state solution remains humanity’s best chance to end the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to resolve the conflict, suffering, and starvation in Gaza.
This announcement is a breach of Australia’s bipartisan commitment to international relations.
“We have serious concerns about the Albanese Government’s decision to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state outside of a proper peace and two-state process. Until today, it has been a bipartisan position that the question of recognising Palestinian statehood should come at the end of the peace negotiation process, not at the start or during it” Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Senator Michaelia Cash said.
“Until today, it was a bipartisan position that there should be no recognition of a Palestinian state with Hamas still in control of Gaza. Despite his words today, the reality is Anthony 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”, Senator Cash added.
According to the Opposition, recognising a Palestinian state prior to a return of the hostages and defeat of Hamas, risks delivering Hamas one of its strategic objectives of the horrific terrorism of October 7.
And Prime Minister’s decision puts Australia at odds with the United States of America, Australia’s most important ally and having been at the forefront of negotiations to bring the war in Gaza to an end. The Opposition also agreed with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who has said that decisions to recognise a Palestinian state ahead of a proper peace process scuttled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.
Palestinian Australians are not happy either
Amal Naser, Harbour Bridge protest organiser and of Palestinian Action Group says recognition is not what we have been demanding. They want Australian sanctions against Israel.
“And yet, the government instead offers us “recognition” of a Palestinian state, as though that is what we have been demanding. Recognition, while I watch my homeland be exterminated, while Benjamin Netanyahu vows to occupy Gaza indefinitely, while Israel expands its settlements across the illegally occupied West Bank, is as hollow as the condemnations Western leaders have offered as Israel’s crimes escalate.
“Recognition is not enough. You cannot “recognise” a state while you allow Australian-made components to help arm the regime destroying it. You cannot fight for the dead while helping make the weapons that kill them.”
What is the point if not even the Palestinian Australians are not happy?
Some observers feel, the announcement is more for domestic consumption and more symbolic rather than being a serious diplomatic move. They believe the PM was more focused on the Tik Tok’s power down under. Their thesis is that the single statement of the PM which won him more votes than anything else at the last election, was where he called Peter Dutton ‘delulu with no solulu’, meaning Peter Dutton was delusional without any solution. They believe that struck a chord with young Australian and by making the announcement yesterday, the PM was targeting that Tik Tok army of voters, who have been protesting tirelessly, marching on the streets across Australia. They believe the PM and the Australian Labor party are hell bent on not ceding any territory to fringe elements in Australian politics be it Fatima Payman or other Muslim voter groups.
Some others believe the PM has been cowardly in not criticizing those Harbour Bridge marchers who carried Khomeini posters, or others who carried Hezbollah placards/flags or dressed up like Hezbollah.
With Australians rising up (read August 31 March to take ‘our country back’), and the PM having neither pleased the Palestinian Aussies, nor Jewish Australians rather having broken a long-held tradition of bipartisanship on international relations, has the PM delivered ‘the Voice 2’ moment with his announcement to recognize the state of Palestine? Only time will tell.