Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong are laying the ground for an imminent and significant change to Australia’s long-held position that commits to progressing a two-state solution but does not recognise a Palestinian state.
After months of backroom diplomacy and talks among officials across an alliance of Western countries, the Prime Minister is preparing to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders in formally recognising Palestinian statehood.
Ahead of the Labor leader’s expected attendance at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in September, Albanese and Wong are on the brink of fulfilling the wishes of their ALP Left faction in recognising Palestine as a state.
The 2023 ALP national conference enshrined as an “important priority for the Australian government” two key commitments: recognising Palestine as a state and the “right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders”.
With Labor caucus dominated by Albanese’s Left faction following the government’s May 3 election landslide victory, pro-Israel Labor MPs and supporters knew the major shift was inevitable.
In what senior government figures describe as a global snowball effect, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and inability to maintain a ceasefire has galvanised a bloc of countries, which excludes Donald Trump’s US, to form a unity ticket that believes a separate Palestinian state would deliver “enduring peace” in the Middle East.
Wong on Friday repeated the lines she has used in recent months that the government no longer sees recognition as only occurring at the end of a peace process.
Wong, Albanese and Richard Marles have said they want a Palestinian state in which Hamas has no involvement.
Countries pursuing recognition of Palestine can hardly rely on the Palestinian Authority to oust murderous Hamas terrorists who butchered innocent Israelis on October 7, 2023. There is every chance that Hamas or a Hamas-backed group would rise as the dominant force inside a Palestinian state.
It will take other countries, including Britain, to follow Macron’s lead before Albanese changes Australia’s foreign policy settings. With Trump a staunch supporter of Israel and his administration refusing to participate in any French or UN-led push for Palestinian statehood, Albanese must manage the timing of any Palestine shift as he seeks his first in-person meeting with the US President.
Albanese will meet with Trump soon. Amid planning for a heavy schedule of international summits across the globe over the next five months, the pair could cross paths before the UN leaders’ week in New York in September.
Amid ongoing concerns around US tariffs, defence spending and AUKUS, Albanese must tread a careful path as he seeks from Trump positive outcomes for Australia.
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