Australia’s recognition of Palestine is a matter of “when, not if”, the treasurer says, after Canada joined the movement to formally acknowledge its statehood.
Canada followed the UK and France on Thursday (AEST) in announcing its plan to recognise Palestine as a state at a UN General Assembly meeting in September.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said recognition would be contingent on the demilitarisation and exclusion of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is deemed a terrorist organisation.
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Albanese government viewed Palestinian statehood as the “best pathway out of this enduring cycle of violence”.
“From an Australian point of view, recognition of the state of Palestine is a matter of when, not if,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
“This progress, this momentum that we’re seeing, is welcome but it’s also conditional … we need to make sure that there’s no role for Hamas in any future leadership.”
Despite indications Australia would also follow suit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined to set a timeline for when that would take place.
Albanese held talks with his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer, on the Middle East overnight Wednesday (AEST), and the pair discussed support for a two-state solution.
Albanese reiterated Australia’s “long-standing and strong support for a two-state solution”, and cited the country’s aid contributions.
The pair also spoke about the UK’s framework for recognising Palestine as a state.
“The leaders agreed on the importance of using the international momentum to secure a ceasefire, the release of all hostages and the acceleration of aid, as well as ensuring Hamas did not play a role in a future state,” according to a readout of the talks.
Opposition frontbencher James Paterson said he did not support the “premature” recognition of a Palestinian state before the conclusion of a peace process that establishes the two-state principle, which would include Israel.
“I don’t think we should decide Australia’s foreign policy according to some artificial measure of momentum,” he told Sky News.
“We should decide if it’s consistent with our national interest and the principles which the Australian government has upheld on a bipartisan basis for decades, which is that we want two states.”
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the federal government must formally recognise Palestine.
“It’s time to be recognising the state of Palestine …in line with comparable countries across the world,” she told Sky News.
Last week, France became the first G7 nation to announce it would recognise Palestine, and was soon followed by the UK and Canada.
The G7 group of major industrialised nations includes France, the US, the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan.
Canada had long stated it would recognise a Palestinian state only at the conclusion of peace talks with Israel.
But Carney said on Thursday (Australian time) the reality on the ground, including starvation of citizens in Gaza, meant “the prospect of a Palestinian state is literally receding before our eyes”.
Among the reasons, he said, were “the pervasive threat of Hamas terrorism to Israel,” accelerated settlement building across the West Bank and East Jerusalem and a vote by the Knesset calling for the annexation of the West Bank.
“Canada condemns the fact that the Israeli government has allowed a catastrophe to unfold in Gaza,” he said.
The move follows similar statements by two other G7 nations, Britain and France, and puts more pressure on Australia to follow suit.
More than 140 out of the 193 members of the United Nations already recognise the state of Palestine, including EU members Spain and Ireland.
The international push to recognise Palestine has been fuelled by the escalating crisis in Gaza, where more than two million people are facing starvation.
Israel cut off aid to Gaza in March before re-opening channels under tight restrictions in May, measures it says are necessary to stop the supplies being diverted to fund Hamas operations.
Its officials say enough food has been let into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of civilians.
Israel’s military offensive has already killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza.
The campaign began after Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation in Australia, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and took 251 hostages.
Opposition frontbencher Dan Tehan said Hamas was responsible for continuing to “politicise and weaponise the use of aid in Gaza”.
Multiple aid organisations, including Amnesty and Medecins Sans Frontieres, have condemned the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the trickle of aid being supplied in recent months.
-with AAP
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