The Australian administration claims to have overturned a contentious decision made by its conservative predecessor to acknowledge the western sector of the occupied city of al-Quds as the so-called capital of Israeli rule.
Tuesday’s media briefing featured Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who stated that the “renews Australia’s commitment to international initiatives in the serious search for advancement toward a fair and long-lasting… solution” to the Palestinian question.
She continued by saying that negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, not arbitrary judgments, should determine the status of Al-Quds.
The western portion of the city was taken by the Israeli government in 1948 amid a conflict with strong Western support. In a separate conflict in 1967, it also took control of the Palestinian area of the West Bank, including East al-Quds.
Since then, the apartheid administration has scattered hundreds of illegal colonies around the region, which have become home to hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers.
The West Bank will be a component of a future independent state with East al-Quds as its capital, according to the Palestinians. However, the Israeli government claims that the entire city is its “capital.”
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison altered decades of Australian policy in the Middle East by declaring that his nationally recognized West al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” but would not immediately move its embassy there.
“You are familiar with this. This was a cunning attempt to win the Wentworth seat and a by-election, but it failed,” she added.
Days before a by-election in a Sydney constituency with a significant Jewish population, Morrison had hinted in 2018 that he would move the embassy from Tel Aviv, prompting outrage from the country’s Muslim-majority neighbors Indonesia and Malaysia.
The center-left Labor party, led by Anthony Albanese as prime minister and Wong as foreign minister, came to power in May 2022 after Morrison’s Liberal-led government lost a national election.
“The issue of Palestine is very significant to Indonesia and the people of Indonesia, the spokesperson for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry stated at the time, underscoring the sensitivity of Australia’s decision.”
A spokeswoman for the Indonesian defense ministry also expressed concern about a potential review of military cooperation with Australia to determine whether it will continue to be “useful for both parties.”
Palestinians also decried the move as a barrier to regional peace and urged Arab nations to reevaluate their commercial and political ties with Canberra.
