‘We need to build the pathway’: Wong steps up debate on Palestinian statehood - Sydney Morning Herald

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has cleared the ground for a pivotal debate on the conflict in the Middle East by suggesting Australia could recognise a Palestinian state without waiting for years of talks with Israel over a two-state solution.

Setting out a new case on a highly sensitive global question, Wong said Palestinian statehood could improve the chances for peace while “building momentum” toward a two-state agreement with Israel.

But the foreign affairs minister declared that Hamas could not have any role in a future Palestinian state, that Israel had a right to defend itself against the terrorist group and that an enduring peace could only come with a two-state resolution with Israel.

The comments signal the government’s views ahead of a contentious move at the United Nations this week to consider adding Palestine as a full member of the international body, weeks after United Kingdom foreign secretary David Cameron argued in favour of recognising Palestine.

“We need to build the pathway out of the endless cycle of violence,” Wong said in a major speech to a security conference at the Australian National University on Tuesday night.

The foreign affairs minister noted the “widespread frustration” at the failure on all sides to achieve a two-state solution in the three decades since Palestinian and Israeli leaders agreed on the objective, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to even engage on the question.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“So the international community is now considering the question of Palestinian statehood as a way of building momentum towards a two-state solution,” she said.

“There are always those who claim recognition is rewarding an enemy. This is wrong.

“First, because Israel’s own security depends on a two-state solution. There is no long-term security for Israel unless it is recognised by the countries of its region.”

The second argument, Wong said, was that there would be no role for Hamas in a Palestinian state, with the change leading to a reformed Palestinian Authority that could not be in a position to threaten Israel’s security.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Credit: AP

“Recognising a Palestinian state – one that can only exist side by side with a secure Israel – doesn’t just offer the Palestinian people an opportunity to realise their aspirations,” she said.

“It also strengthens the forces for peace and undermines extremism. It undermines Hamas, Iran and Iran’s other destructive proxies in the region.

“A two-state solution is the only hope to break the endless cycle of violence.”

The comments are likely to anger the Israeli government and local pro-Israel groups, which have long resisted recognition of Palestinian statehood, but they come at a time of strong criticism of Israel’s Defence Forces over the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and other World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he told Netanyahu late last week of Australia’s concern about a ground invasion of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering to avoid the conflict.

“We’re very concerned about the humanitarian consequences, as are like-minded countries including the United States,” he said on Tuesday morning.

While international leaders have called on both sides to agree to an immediate ceasefire, Hamas said the latest Israeli proposal did not meet any of the demands of Palestinian factions.

Cameron, the former British prime minister and now a conservative peer in the House of Lords, said in early February that Palestinian statehood should not have to wait until the end of a two-state agreement with Israel.

“What we need to do is give the Palestinian people a horizon towards a better future, the future of having a state of their own,” he said.

With United States President Joe Biden showing increasing frustration with Netanyahu over the ground war in Gaza, the international response to the conflict will be tested at the UN in the next few weeks when a decision is made on whether to admit Palestine to the global body.

The Palestinians are seeking full membership after 12 years of observer status at the UN, in a process that gives UN members including Australia a potential forum to air their views on a two-state solution.

Wong condemned the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 and said the terrorist organisation had no respect for international law, but she argued that democracies were held to a higher standard and this meant Israel should step back from a worsening conflict in Gaza.

“This is why Australia and so many countries have called on the Netanyahu government to change course, including in respect of a major ground offensive in Rafah. Again we say, do not go down this path,” she said.

To buttress the Australian argument, Wong cited a statement from Biden that Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping”, as well as a warning from US Senator Chuck Schumer that Israel could not hope to succeed as a “pariah” state.

Recognising Palestinian statehood would be the culmination of years of activism within Labor to shift the party’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

At the party’s 2018 national conference, the party passed a landmark motion calling on the next Labor government to recognise Palestine as a state, a move that infuriated pro-Israel lobby groups and some pro-Israel Labor MPs.

In 2021, Labor incorporated the resolution into its official policy platform. The resolution was introduced by Wong.

An earlier shift came in 2012, when then foreign minister Bob Carr prevailed in an internal Labor debate on whether to support Palestine gain observer status at the UN. While then-prime minister Julia Gillard backed Israel on this question, Carr gained support from the backbench and won the argument in cabinet.

Wong also used her speech on Tuesday night to call for calm debate in Australia to avoid the “blatant antisemitism and Islamophobia” seen in some of the personal attacks on either side of the argument.

“We gain nothing by reproducing the conflict here, by talking past each other, by shouting each other down and by insisting on respective absolutes,” she said.

Wong criticised the Greens for “exploiting distress” with no regard for social harmony, while saying Opposition Leader Peter Dutton wrongly dismissed any concern for Palestinians as signs of sympathy for Hamas.

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2024-04-09 10:30:00Z
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