Australia to Recognize Palestine State in September

Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday, joining the leaders of France, Britain, and Canada in signa they would do so.

Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Albanese said that Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state will be formalised at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

The acknowledgement was “predicated on commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority,” Albanese said.

Those commitments included no role for Hamas in a Palestinian government, demilitarisation of Gaza, and the holding of elections, he said. “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 said.

“The situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world’s worst fears,” he said. “The Israeli government continues to defy international law and deny sufficient aid, food and water to desperate people, including children.”

Albanese's announcement comes after weeks of pressure from his Cabinet and many Australians to recognise a Palestinian state, as well as mounting criticism from his government's officials over the suffering in Gaza, something he called a "humanitarian catastrophe."