Australia to recognize Palestinian statehood at UN next month

Australia plans to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly next month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Monday. 

“Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own, predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority,” Albanese said, referring to the governing entity of part of the West Bank. 

Those commitments, he said, included the demilitarization of Gaza and the holding of elections – with no role for Hamas in a Palestinian government. Australia has designated Hamas a terrorist entity and Albanese repeated Monday his government’s calls for the group to return Israeli hostages held since the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre. 

Albanese said Australia will work with the international community to make the right of Palestinian statehood a “reality.” 

RECOGNIZING A PALESTINIAN STATE NOW WILL COMPLICATE FUTURE PEACE EFFORTS, EXPERTS WARN

“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,” Albanese said. 

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The prime minister said the situation there “has gone beyond the world’s worst fears.” He accused the Israeli government of continuing “to defy international law and deny sufficient aid, food and water to desperate people, including children.”

Albanese’s announcement followed similar declarations from the leaders of France, Britain and Canada. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Australia and other European countries for the move, accusing them of marching into a “rabbit hole.” 

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“[T]his canard, is disappointing and I think it’s actually shameful,” the Israeli leader said Sunday. 

Australia’s government, in turn, has criticized Netanyahu’s plans announced in recent days for a sweeping new military offensive in Gaza.

The Australian leader last week spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who agreed to conditions with Western leaders as they prepared to recognize a Palestinian state.

“This is an opportunity to deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine in a way isolates Hamas, disarms it and drives it out of the region once and for all,” Albanese said. 

To date, nearly 150 of the 193 United Nations members have recognized the State of Palestine – many of whom did so decades ago. The U.S. and many of its Western allies have held off, arguing that Palestinian statehood should be the final stage of ending the conflict that has been ongoing since 1948. 

Israeli leaders, meanwhile, have pushed back on recognizing a Palestinian state, arguing that it would reward terrorism and do little to strengthen the position of the Palestinian Authority, which lost control of the Gaza Strip after a violent conflict with Hamas in 2007. The terrorist group has ruled Gaza ever since. 

The 2025 sessions of the UN General Assembly will begin on September 9 and last until September 25. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.