Editorial
Move may not tilt events in Gaza, but Palestine recognition a step forward
The Australian government has announced it will recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly next month.
Australia, in joining a growing band of world opinion, which includes Britain, France and Canada, is declaring that recognition is a step towards giving to the Palestinians something desired by most people: a homeland.
The decision of Anthony Albanese’s government to recognise the state of Palestine has been sharply criticised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Credit: Getty Images
The state of Palestine should be more than a state of mind. It should be real. More than three-quarters of UN members agree.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, like other world leaders, believe a two-state solution is the answer. It was, said the prime minister on Monday, “humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East. Until Israeli and Palestinian statehood is permanent, peace can only be temporary.”
Critics, from many angles, may see this as both a hollow gesture, one that rewards bad actors and one powered by the engine of domestic politics. Tens of thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators marching through the streets of Melbourne and across the Sydney Harbour Bridge can have that effect. Measuring the effect of recognition to the diabolically complex Middle East is harder to discern.
The history of the past 100 years is a road strewn with false starts, dead-ends, betrayed hopes, terror and cities in ruins, and thousands dead. Half a century ago, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed the rights of Palestinians to self-determination and sovereignty.
Pro-Palestine protesters march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on August 3.Credit: Getty Images
There have been accords, road maps, ceasefires and wars. In 2002, the UN Security Council affirmed a vision of two states – Israel and Palestine.
In 2007, Hamas took power in Gaza. Its stated ideology, in part, is the eradication of Israel. To terrorists, a life is secondary to the cause.
Hamas senior leader Ghazi Hamad spoke recently of the “fruits” of the October 7, 2023 massacre: “Why are all the countries recognising a Palestinian state today? The fruits of October 7 are what caused the entire world to open its eyes to the Palestinian issue.”
Palestinians do not deserve Hamas. The terrorist organisation’s slaughter of 1200 people in Israel and taking of a further 250 hostages almost two years ago has precipitated, through Israel’s now roundly condemned reaction, the deaths of more than 60,000 men, women and children, the razing of cities and the starvation of thousands.
Those deaths are not of Hamas’ enemy but of those they purport to represent. Albanese has said Hamas must have no place in a future Palestine, and Israel’s right to exist must be accepted. The prime minister is right. Albanese, who told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently of Australia’s recognition, says “there is a moment of opportunity” now.
For his part, the increasingly isolated Netanyahu called Australia’s move shameful.
Netanyahu’s comments should be seen in the light of Israel’s plans to set up a Palestinian resettlement camp, and to occupy Gaza City and take full security control of Gaza Strip – a move sharply criticised at a UN Security Council meeting this week.
UN Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca warned that Israel’s latest plan would “likely trigger another calamity, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings and destruction”.
Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong at Monday’s announcement.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The Age welcomes Australia’s move to recognise Palestine. We acknowledge in saying this that, of itself, the move may not tilt events in Gaza or the region’s politics.
But it is more than mere symbolism. Wong herself acknowledged “this is not the end, just the beginning”. “There is much work to do in building a Palestinian state,” she said.
Some say it does too much, others say it does nothing. Some Palestinian advocates believe sanctions and diplomatic isolation would be more effective. Some Israeli supporters despair at a perceived victory for Hamas.
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.Credit: AP
Ehud Olmert, a former Israeli prime minister and supporter of a two-state solution, argues recognition is an empty gesture.
“What I do not understand is why the prime minister recognises a state that doesn’t exist rather than try and influence the two sides, the Palestinian side and the Israeli side, to embark on a negotiation that will help create it,” Olmert said.
Like others, including the federal opposition, Olmert notes a state should have defined territory and an effective government.
This goes to the core of criticism of granting recognition: how can a government recognise a country that has no borders?
These are fair questions to ask, but just because this proposal does not achieve everything does not mean it is not achieving something towards peace that feels so far away. And that, in the end, is the only thing worth working towards.
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