News Desk - The Cradle
Canberra said recognizing Palestine will help move the political situation towards a two-state solution, something which both Israelis and Palestinians reject
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“Recognizing a Palestinian state – one that can only exist side by side with a secure Israel – doesn’t just offer the Palestinian people an opportunity to realize their aspirations,” the Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told an audience in Canberra.
Wong added that the recognition of Palestinian statehood would “also strengthen the forces for peace and undermines extremism.”
Israel’s asymmetrical war tactics against the Palestinian people following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023 have seen diplomats reconsider holding off on granting statehood to the Palestinians.
“The failures of this approach by all parties over decades – as well as the Netanyahu Government’s refusal to even engage on the question of a Palestinian state – have caused widespread frustration,” Wong said.
“The international community is now considering the question of Palestinian statehood as a way of building momentum towards a two-state solution,” the Australian foreign minister added.
However, Israeli officials have previously made clear their distaste toward a two-state solution, with one official saying, “A two-state solution after what happened on October 7 is a reward to Hamas.”
Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas’s diaspora office, has previously voiced that Palestinians seek liberation and independence from the Israeli state.
Speaking to Ammar Podcast, Meshaal said, “The West says that October 7 has opened up prospects for a political vision, so they have returned to talk about their old commodity, which is the two-state solution.”
He added that “The 1967 borders represent 21 percent of Palestine, which is practically one-fifth of its land, so this cannot be accepted,”
Wong’s move towards recognizing a Palestinian state follows Spain’s decision last week to recognize Palestinian statehood by July.
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed the urgency of the matter by saying, “We have to seriously consider doing it in the first half of this year.”
Other western nations, including Ireland and Malta, have made plans to support unilaterally recognizing Palestine, and fellow EU members Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria have already recognized Palestinian statehood.
Other EU nations like Germany, France, and the UK have made no plans to recognize Palestinian statehood before an agreement for a two-state solution is reached with Israel.
Since August of last year, the Australian government reinstated the use of the term “Occupied Palestinian Territories” in a move set to strengthen Canberra’s objections to illegal Israeli settlements
“The Australian government is strengthening its opposition to settlements by affirming they are illegal under international law and a significant obstacle to peace,” Wong said last year.
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