Australia to switch stance on UN votes as a pathway to two-state solution

The Albanese government is preparing to again break with Israel by switching Australia’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a series of high-profile United Nations votes, including on a resolution aimed at creating an “irreversible pathway” to a Palestinian state.

The United Nations General Assembly in New York was on Tuesday night preparing to vote on three motions concerning Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Government sources not permitted to speak publicly said Australia was considering switching from its voting record on some issues, in line with Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s view that it was important for the international community to create momentum towards a two-state solution.

The move will anger Israel but again please Palestinian advocates in Australia, who have welcomed several recent Australian votes at the UN.

Diplomatic relations between Australia and Israel have been tested by the former’s voting on UN resolutions over the past year, as well as Australia’s refusal two weeks ago to condemn the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the decision by Home Affairs to deny entry to a former Israeli minister on character grounds.

One of the draft resolutions under discussion at the UN demanded that Israel “bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible, to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

The seven-page resolution, titled Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine, also stresses “the need to urgently exert collective efforts to launch credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process”.

An annex to the resolution calls for a high-level international conference to be held next June in New York.

The conference would aim to produce a document that would “urgently chart an irreversible pathway towards the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution”.

A separate motion condemns Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights, while a third concerns procedural matters relating to Palestinian representation at the United Nations.

Commenting before the votes, a spokesperson for Wong said: “As a constructive middle power, Australia approaches UN resolutions to try to achieve the best outcomes we can.

“We don’t always get everything we want. But if, on balance, we believe the resolution will contribute to peace and a two-state solution, we will vote for it.

“On our own, Australia has few ways to move the dial in the Middle East.

“Our only hope is working within the international community to push for an end to the cycle of violence and work toward a two-state solution.”

Australia’s position remains that final status issues between Israel and Palestine will need to be resolved as part of negotiations towards a two-state solution.

Australia last month backed a United Nations resolution recognising Palestinians’ “permanent sovereignty” over resources in the occupied Palestinian territories in Gaza and the West Bank in a significant shift from its previous stance.

Australia had previously voted no on the issue since 2003, according to the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).

AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said it was “simply bizarre” that Australia would vote in favour of the motions while Australia Palestine Advocacy Network President Nasser Mashni praised the government for taking “a meaningful stand against the systemic deprivation that has threatened the livelihoods of Palestinians under decades of illegal Israeli occupation”.

Australia abstained in a vote on a UN resolution in September calling on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza within a year, saying the nation’s diplomats had tried and failed to redraft the motion to make it less contentious.

The Albanese government angered Israel with its previous two high-profile UN votes on the Israel-Palestine issue by backing a December resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza and a May resolution expanding Palestinians’ right to participate at the UN.

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