- Albanese made the announcement after the cabinet meeting.
- It criticizes Netanyahu for opposing Palestinian status efforts.
- “The solution of two states is the best hope of humanity to end the conflict.”
Australia will recognize a Palestinian state in the United Nations General Assembly next month, said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday, a measure that adds to international pressure on Israel after similar ads of France, Great Britain and Canada.
“Australia will recognize the state of Palestine in the 80 sessions of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, to contribute to the international impulse towards a solution of two states, a high fire in Gaza and the release of hostages,” said Albanese in a statement.
Albanese made the announcement after a cabinet meeting and told reporters in Canberra that recognition would be based on the commitments that Australia received from the Palestinian authority, including that Hamas would not have participation in any future state.
“A solution of two states is the best hope of humanity to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and put an end to conflict, suffering and hunger in Gaza,” Albanese said at a press conference.
Albanese said he spoke Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him that a political solution and not a military was necessary.
Last week, Australia criticized Israel’s plan to take military control of Gaza, and Albanese said that the decision to recognize a Palestinian State was “even more obligatory” for the contempt of Netanyahu of the calls of the international community and the breach of legal and ethical obligations in Gaza.
“The Netanyahu government is extinguishing the perspective of a solution of two states by rapidly expanding illegal settlements, threatening annexation in the occupied Palestinian territories and explicitly opposing any Palestinian state,” said Albanese in the joint declaration with Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
Commitments of the Palestinian authority to reform the Government, demilitarize and celebrate general elections, as well as the demands of the Arab League so that Hamas ends his government in Gaza, created an opportunity, he said.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand is considering the recognition of a Palestinian state.
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon would make a formal decision in September and present the government approach at the week of UN leaders, he said.
Peters said that, although some of New Zealand’s nearby partners had chosen to recognize a Palestinian state, New Zealand had an independent foreign policy.
“We intend to weigh the problem carefully and then act according to the national principles, values and interests of New Zealand,” Peters said in a statement.
The government needed to weigh if sufficient progress was being made so that the Palestinian territories became a viable and legitimate state for New Zealand to grant recognition.
“New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,” Peters added.
