Australia will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday.
“Until Israeli and Palestinian statehood is permanent, peace can only be temporary,” he told reporters.
“Australia will recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own.”
Several countries, including France, Britain and Canada, have announced plans to recognise statehood for Palestinians since Israel launched a bombardment of Gaza nearly two years ago in response to the Hamas attacks.
“There is a moment of opportunity here, and Australia will work with the international community to seize it,” he said.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Monday that New Zealand is considering recognition of a Palestinian state.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s cabinet would make a formal decision in September and present the government’s approach at the UN Leaders’ Week, he said.
Peters said that while some of New Zealand’s close partners had opted to recognise a Palestinian state, New Zealand had an independent foreign policy.
“We intend to weigh up the issue carefully and then act according to New Zealand’s principles, values and national interest,” Peters said in a statement.
The government needed to weigh up whether sufficient progress was being made towards the Palestinian territories becoming a viable and legitimate state for New Zealand to grant recognition.
“New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,” Peters added.
