As the devastation in Gaza intensifies and international pressure mounts, Australia and New Zealand are edging closer to recognising a Palestinian state, but critics warn that symbolic gestures and “window-dressing” alone will do little to alter the grim realities on the ground.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday that Canberra was prepared to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly this September, contingent on certain commitments.
“Australia will recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority,” Albanese said, citing requirements including demilitarisation, free elections and recognition of Israel’s right to exist.
“A two-state solution is humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza,” he said.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters, meanwhile, confirmed that Wellington’s cabinet would make its decision next month.
“New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,” Peters said in a statement.
