‘No Palestine left to recognise' if world doesn't push for two-state solution with Israel, Penny Wong warns
Calling for a two-state solution and for Hamas to release the remaining 7 October hostages, Anthony Albanese used a call with the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, to push for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the war zone.
Amid efforts to seek a phone call with Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Albanese told Abbas Australia remained committed to a two state solution, 'because a just and lasting peace depends upon it.'
'President Abbass thanked Prime Minister Albanese for Australia's economic and humanitarian support,' a statement on the call from Albanese's office said on Tuesday.
'The leaders discussed deepening cooperation across a range of areas, and agreed to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.'
Several of Australia's allies, including Canada and France, have flagged they will use the September UN meeting in New York to recognise Palestinian statehood, and Wong told ABC radio she had said for a year Australia doing the same was a matter of 'when, not if'.
But, following a march of at least 100,000 people over the Sydney Harbour Bridge at the weekend and growing criticism of Israel's actions around the world, Wong said the situation was dire.
'There is a risk there will be no Palestine left to recognise if the international community don't move to create that pathway to a two-state solution,' she said.
'It has been my long-held position that there will be no peace and security, for the people of Israel, unless we resolve to a Palestinian state. That has been my view for decades.'
The comments came as Netanyahu prepares to oversee a meeting of his security cabinet, set to decide this week whether to intensify the Israeli military's next steps in Gaza as it seeks the return of 50 remaining hostages. About 20 are believed to be alive.
Netanyahu said overnight he wanted to achieve the country's three goals for the war: 'defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages, and to ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to the state of Israel'.
Israel currently controls about 75% of Gaza's territory, most reduced to rubble. Some 60,000 people, including scores of women and children, have been killed in the conflict.
The international community has expressed outrage at deaths from starvation, something Netanyahu has denied is taking place.
The shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, said the recognition of a Palestinian state by Australia would reward Hamas and send a 'bad signal around the world' which could be exploited by terrorist groups.
'Let me be very clear, I want to see a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine,' he told ABC radio.
'It's something I've believed in for decades. But we seem to be further away from that today than at any point in the past, and that is largely because of the role that Hamas is playing in Gaza.'
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