Labor has had a policy recognising a Palestinian state since 2018; it became part of its national platform in 2021. However, it was a dead letter under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong — reviled by the pro-Israel lobby but one of its strongest friends in cabinet — until July 25.
That day, French President Emmanuel Macron, frustrated at Israel’s refusal to let food into Gaza and its support for the expansion of Israeli colonies on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, announced France would recognise a Palestinian state in September. He did so based on the commitments made by Mahmoud Abbas of the corrupt Palestinian Authority — now to receive a vastly increased level of international attention and criticism — relating to political reform, elections and a demilitarised state, as well as a condemnation of the October 7 atrocities and a call for the release of all hostages held by Hamas, the disarming of Hamas and its removal from power in Gaza.
Macron had long been publicly mulling such a move, but had been restrained by Canada and the United Kingdom. His shift forced both his allies into shifting as well, with the UK’s Keir Starmer under immense pressure from his cabinet.
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Once the second- and third-most powerful Anglophone countries shifted on recognition, the options for Albanese to hold out began rapidly fading. After an initial period of the prime minister obstinately insisting Australia would make its own decision, the government adopted a “when, not if” position.
Albanese was unable to explain exactly what the “when” required, but it turned out to be exactly the conditions Macron had extracted from the Palestinian Authority president. However, Albanese and Wong were at pains today to ensure we know that Abbas “has reaffirmed these commitments directly to the Australian government”.
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But the government’s statement announcing its intention to recognise a Palestinian state does go some of the way to making up for its previous insipid attempts at avoiding criticism of Israel. “The Netanyahu government is extinguishing the prospect of a two-state solution by rapidly expanding illegal settlements, threatening annexation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and explicitly opposing any Palestinian state.”
That statement is unexceptionable and could have been said at any point in the past decade. But Western leaders, and plenty of Australian prime ministers before Albanese, have preferred to hide behind vague commitments to a two-state solution. The statement goes on:
Australia is further compelled by the Netanyahu government’s disregard of the international community’s calls, and its failure to comply with its legal and ethical obligations in Gaza. Israel is required to protect civilians and ensure the provision of food and medical supplies. Permanent forced displacement of civilians is illegal. Palestinian children deserve a future that looks nothing like their reality today.
Fine words, but that sets up an expectation that recognition simply won’t address: how to make Netanyahu comply with Israel’s legal and ethical obligations in Gaza; how to force Israel to protect civilians, provide food and medical supplies, and stop the permanent and forced displacement of civilians. A Palestinian state is not the solution to what Netanyahu’s extremist government is currently doing on the ground in Palestinian territory.
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Recognition will thus only be a brief pause in the political pressure on the government to move to sanctioning Israel for its atrocities. At the same time, the Netanyahu regime, the pro-Israel lobby in Australia, the Coalition, News Corp and other supporters of Netanyahu’s atrocities will attack Labor for “rewarding Hamas”.
Every attack on Israel, every moment Hamas does not surrender to Israel, every expression of support for Palestinian resistance around the world will now be laid at the feet of countries like Australia that have chosen to recognise a Palestinian state. Every failure and revelation of endemic corruption within Abbas’ authority will be held up as evidence of the folly of recognition. And every antisemitic slur, vandalism or attack in Australia will be blamed on Albanese for his act of recognition. It will seem to the government like it is damned no matter which path it follows.
Meanwhile, Macron’s attention is focused on the possible Munich-like effort of Donald Trump to hand victory in Ukraine to Vladimir Putin. The French president flagged overnight his insistence that Ukraine’s future must be decided by Ukraine itself — rather than, by implication, Trump surrendering to Putin at his forthcoming meeting in Alaska.
The leadership of the free world has very much been ceded by Washington to Paris, with the United States increasingly siding with some of the world’s most malignant actors.
