Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has discussed efforts to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza with the head of the United Nations as the Government sends signals it will join a coalition of nations recognising a Palestinian state. Source: The Age.
Mr Albanese also had a phone call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday, in which they committed to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
Mr Albanese spoke to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday to discuss the upcoming general assembly, a conversation government sources said was part of an escalating set of diplomatic encounters as international pressure mounts to recognise Palestinian statehood.
The call had previously been reported, but not that the pair spoke about Palestine.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has used her strongest language on the issue this week, heightening the sense of urgency to recognise Palestine by arguing that time was running out to keep a two-state solution alive.
“There is a risk there will be no Palestine left to recognise if the international community [doesn’t] move to create that pathway to a two-state solution,” she told ABC Radio yesterday.
“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.”
Her comments came as Israeli media outlets reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to order the full military occupation of Gaza in a last-ditch effort to force Hamas to surrender and to recover the remaining Israeli hostages taken during the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.
Former United States ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro was one of many Middle East experts who decried the plan, saying it would be a “disaster” leading to the deaths of more Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages.
Ms Wong used even more forceful language about Palestinian recognition in a television interview on Monday night, saying there had been “a lot of co-ordination” with other countries on the issue and that it has been remarked this could be “the last hope” to salvage any prospect of a Palestinian state.
FULL STORY
‘We cannot stand by’: Government sends strongest signal yet on Palestinian recognition (By Matthew Knott, The Age)
