‘Window dressing’? Australia, New Zealand revisit recognising Palestine

The move by Australia and New Zealand to consider Palestine as a state is a show of unity by the two neighbours in their Middle East policy and a “window-dressing of the worst kind”, according to observers.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday at a press conference in Sydney that his country would recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.

“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. These commitments include demilitarising, holding general elections and recognising 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,” Albanese declared.

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said a decision on Wellington recognising a Palestinian state would be taken at a cabinet meeting 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.