Australia joins Canada in plan to recognize Palestinian state

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CANBERRA — Australia will recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday.

“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.”

The decision follows a push from several countries, including France, Britain and Canada, to recognize statehood for the Palestinians after Israel launched a war on Gaza nearly two years ago in response to the Hamas attacks.

“There is a moment of opportunity here, and Australia will work with the international community to seize it,” Albanese added.

He said that 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”.

The PA, however, does not have a presence in Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas for nearly two decades.

Following Australia’s announcement, Israel’s embassy in Canberra told AFP the ambassador was “unavailable” to comment.

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 two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where the fighting has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of mass starvation.

Albanese further criticized the Israeli government Monday and said it continued to defy “international law and deny sufficient aid”.

As the global movement to recognize Palestine grows, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his country would carefully consider whether to do the same over the next month.

He added that New Zealand’s recognition of a Palestinian state is a “matter of when, not if”.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.

Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.