Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia has made “no such decision” to recognise Palestine as a state, but there needs to be a conversation about achieving peace in the region and the only way to do that is through a Palestinian state.
“The discussion I want to have is to look at what is happening in the international community, where there is the very important debate about how it is we secure long-lasting peace in a region where which has known so much conflict,” she said on ABC’s Radio National this morning.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says “ultimately peace, security for Israel will only be achieved if we have a Palestinian state alongside Israel.”Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“Obviously, we have the immediate conflict. We need to see Hamas release hostages. We need to see a revitalised Palestinian Authority. We need to see an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. We need all of these things immediately. But the point I’m making is that ultimately peace, security for Israel will only be achieved if we have a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the Israeli state.”
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She acknowledged concerns from the Zionist Federation of Australia, which said recognising Palestinian statehood so soon after the October 7 Hamas attack would reward those actions.
“My point is a longer term point: what is the path to peace? I don’t see, ultimately, any security for Israel without the issue of Palestinian statehood being resolved,” she said.
Wong said other countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, had said they would not normalise their relationship with Israel until Palestinian statehood was recognised.
“There is no peace, in the long term, unless this issue is resolved,” she said.