Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese said a two-state solution was the best hope to ‘bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza’
Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese said a two-state solution was the best hope to ‘bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza’
The Australian government will recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations general assembly next month, Anthony Albanese has confirmed, saying a two-state solution was “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.”
The confirmation comes hours after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu – facing growing disapproval over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza – branded Australia and European nations “shameful” for considering recognising a Palestinian state.
The Australian prime minister said he spoke to Netanyahu last week and told him “the situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world’s worst fears”, citing an unacceptable civilian death toll.
More than 60,000 civilians have been killed during Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza, local health authorities report, following the 7 October 2023 terror attack by Hamas where 1,200 Israelis were killed and dozens taken hostage.
“Australia will recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own, predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority. We will work with the international community to make this right a reality,” Albanese announced on Monday.
Appearing alongside Albanese, foreign minister Penny Wong said: “We can’t keep waiting for the end of a peace process that has ground to a halt.”
“We have always said that Palestinian civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas. But a whole population has been shattered. So this September, the international community has the chance to forge hope from despair, as the world seizes the opportunities that are presented by the new commitments of the Palestinian Authority and as the world seeks to support the Arab League’s efforts to isolate Hamas.
