Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Canberra would consider recognizing a Palestinian state, a shift in Australian policy as the international community seeks a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a speech on Tuesday night, Wong backed comments by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron who said recognition of a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations, would make a two-state solution irreversible.
Wong said the international community is discussing Palestinian statehood “as a way to gain momentum towards a two-state solution.”
“A two-state solution is the only hope to end the endless cycle of violence,” the foreign minister said, speaking at the Australian National University.
The so-called two-state solution has long been a cornerstone of international peace efforts to resolve the long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the process has been stalled for a decade even before the current war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East War, including Gaza.
Israel on Sunday formalized its opposition to what it called “unilateral recognition” of Palestinian statehood and said any such agreement must be reached through direct negotiations.
Spain is among the other Western countries that advocate such recognition and is the main proponent of such a move within the European Union.
The Australian minister, however, rejected the role of Hamas, which rules Gaza. “Hamas has no role in a future Palestinian state,” she said.
The Palestinian Authority last week formally asked the UN Security Council to reconsider its 2011 request to become a full member of the world body. Palestine is present as a non-member, observer country in the United Nations, which is the same status as the Holy See. Consideration of that request is estimated to have little chance of success as the US opposes it.
Wong said that “those who claim that recognition rewards the enemy” are wrong because Israel’s own security depends on a two-state solution. “There is no long-term security for Israel unless it is recognized by the countries of its region,” she said.
