Indeed, Leni.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has shifted Australian policy forward on the issue of peace in the Middle East, embracing recognition of a Palestinian state ahead of a two-state solution. In a significant speech on Tuesday night, Wong said recognising a Palestinian state was the Middle East’s “only hope of breaking the endless cycle of violence”.
Wong said the international community was considering Palestinian statehood before a two-state solution as a “way of building momentum”. She urged all parties to return to the negotiating table as war continues to rage. In her speech at Australian National University, Wong said a secure and prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians would only come with a two-state solution.
“Recognising a Palestinian state – one that can only exist side by side with a secure Israel – doesn’t just offer the Palestinian people an opportunity to realise their aspirations,” she told a National Security College conference on Tuesday. “It also strengthens the forces for peace and undermines extremism.
Where Minister Wong understandably fails of course, is to address the present US-led conspiracy that has (since 1948) derided the superior claim that Native Palestinians have – to all of Historic Palestine – for it is this matter that must be urgently addressed: if anything approaching “a secure peace” is to prevail.