Penny Wong delivers deadline for UN on Palestine
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has declared a timeline should be set for the international declaration of a Palestinian state and is pushing the UN Security Council to play a more significant role in advancing a two-state solution.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has declared a timeline should be set for the international declaration of a Palestinian state and is pushing the UN Security Council to play a more significant role in advancing a two-state solution to break the “endless cycle of violence” gripping the Middle East.
In comments that were blasted as reflecting an “anti-Israel” slant and being “divorced from reality”, Senator Wong told the UN General Assembly in New York overnight that recognition of a Palestinian state was no longer the “destination of a peace process” but should be imposed by the international community to build “momentum towards peace”.
Speaking 10 days before the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks in which Hamas massacred 1200 Israelis and as the region totters on the brink of a broader conflict triggered by hostilities across the Israel-Lebanon border, Senator Wong said: “The world cannot wait. Australia wants to engage on new ways to build momentum, including the role of the UN Security Council in setting a pathway for two states, with a clear timeline for the international declaration of Palestinian statehood. The world cannot keep hoping the parties will do this themselves; we cannot allow any party to obstruct the prospect of peace.”
Hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a pivotal speech to UN delegates, Senator Wong said Australia was ready to play its part in helping the Palestinian Authority reform and declared “Israel must stop establishing settlements, which are illegal under international law and a major obstacle to peace”.
“We believe it is in Israel’s own interest that the Netanyahu government respond to the demands of the international community,” the Foreign Minister said.
Despite the urgings of the US, Australia, Canada, the EU, Germany, Saudi Arabia and other nations for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and terror group Hezbollah, Mr Netanyahu said on Friday Israel would “continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force”.
“We will not stop until we reach all our goals – chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes,” the Israeli Prime Minister said.
Anthony Albanese called on Mr Netanyahu to listen to the international community. “We are very concerned, and the world is concerned, about the escalation that is continuing here and the consequences for it,” the Prime Minister said.
Senator Wong said in New York a two-state solution was “the opposite of what Hamas wants”, stressing that any future Palestinian state “must not be in a position to threaten Israel’s security”.
“There can be no role for terrorists,” she said. “And it will need a reformed Palestinian Authority. Right now, the suffering across the region must end. Hostages must be released. Aid must flow.”
Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, said Senator Wong’s call for a timeline for Palestinian statehood reflected an “anti-Israel” stance that rewarded terrorism.
“Recognising a Palestinian state prior to a settlement negotiated between the two parties will do nothing to advance peace but, in fact, will do precisely the opposite,” Mr Rubenstein said.
“The predominant obstacle to peace has been Palestinian intransigence and refusal to negotiate in good faith.
“Conferring upon the Palestinians the recognition they crave without requiring them to alter their rejectionist stance will only encourage further intransigence. It will also serve as a demonstration that terrorism is the way to advance the Palestinian cause.”
Former Labor minister and co-convener of Labor Friends of Israel Australia, Mike Kelly, said “none of the preconditions existed” for a Palestinian state to be recognised in the near term.
“This has to be part of a peace process, and at the present time, none of the preconditions really exist for that step to be taken,” Dr Kelly said.
He urged the government to “start putting pressure where it belongs”, including against Iran, Hamas and other actors seeking the end of the state of Israel.
On Senator Wong’s calls for a time frame on Palestinian statehood, Dr Kelly said it was important to “make sure that we’re focused on the quality of the outcome, not a date”.
In a stern message to Israel after it ramped up its attacks on Hezbollah, with the death toll rising from the Israeli strikes to more than 700 since the start of the week, Senator Wong declared that “war has rules”.
“Every country in this room must abide by them,” the Foreign Minister said. “Even when confronting terrorists. Even when defending borders.”
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Senator Wong’s position would only provide the “wrong incentives” for Hamas and other terror groups. “Setting an arbitrary timeline rather than agreeing preconditions to be met will only incentivise Hamas terrorists or corrupt leaders to run down the clock, rather than negotiate on critical enablers of peace like security guarantees, agreed borders and rights of return,” Senator Birmingham said.
Amid concern at the prospect of a ground incursion into Lebanon following Mr Netanyahu’s rejection of a US led-push for a temporary ceasefire with Hezbollah, Senator Wong said: “Lebanon cannot become the next Gaza. Just as in Gaza, Australia calls for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin criticised Labor’s latest language on the conflict, including ramping up calls for a Palestinian state. “This is a dangerous and ill-conceived endeavour by our government that will bring even greater chaos to a chaotic region,” Mr Ryvchin said.
“What exactly does the government intend to recognise as a sovereign and independent state? A terror enclave atop a labyrinth of tunnels where over 100 Israelis are held hostage? Or the West Bank which has no democratic institutions and where the inept and corrupt Palestinian Authority only holds off Hamas and other terror factions because of Israeli counter-terrorism operations?”
Mr Ryvchin warned that if Australia helped to “create a failed state of Palestine it will embolden rogue actors and terror groups around the world and demonstrate that October 7-level barbarism is the ticket to political victory”.
Senator Wong also pushed for reform of the UN system so it could better uphold “standards and rules” across the world and “the sovereignty of all nations”.
“These rules always matter – never more so than in times of conflict – when they help guide us out of darkness, back toward light,” she told the General Assembly. “We convene this week with so much of the human family enshrouded in darkness.”
She said the type of world Australia wanted was further from reach because too many countries were not abiding by the rules-based system. “The world’s peoples are counting on all of us here to rededicate ourselves to international humanitarian law, and the rest of the rules we have agreed to preserve international peace and security,’ she said.
She said the world was enduring more conflict now than at any time since World War II.
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