To save Palestine and Palestinians, intervention by influential governments could occur by supporting the dispatch of United Nations peacekeepers to Gaza and by effective boycotts and sanctions against Israel. Yet in response to Israeli slaughter on Palestinians’ lands, governments only watch.
Preoccupied with an election campaign and with the Donald Trump tariff blitz, Australia’s major parties repeat the claim that the rising cost of living is the only issue.
They have neither the vision or courage to comment on Palestinians who are counting the costs of not living.
Even in an election, to demonstrate it has not entirely forgotten respect for a people’s rights to self-determination, Labor could yet again vote to recognise Palestine.
Forget about principle. Be a bit pragmatic. Such an initiative could be a vote winner.
show a majority want Palestine recognised, seek an end to the occupation and support the International Criminal Court’s war crimes charges and arrest of the Israeli Prime Minister and defense minister.
Since 2015, we have worked together to campaign for the recognition of Palestine. During meetings with key political and academic leaders, we have consistently advocated that Australia support Palestinian statehood.
A decade later, that campaign is echoed in massive public marches, backed by the Muslim community, trade unions and non-government organisations, by Students for Palestine, Indigenous and anti-colonial activists.
Recognition today would respond to an urgent need to display more than a touch of humanity.
On April 5, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that “Israel’s brutality in Gaza surpasses all recent forms of terrorism”.
On the same day, wrote in Pearls & Irritations that “”.
Recognition could be regarded as only symbolic, but in a world seeking neutrality, riven by fear of bullies and dictators, even symbolism is important.
If accompanied by alliances with other countries committed to boycotts, divestments and sanctions in support of Palestinians’ rights and against Israeli occupation, recognition could be coupled to policies to end colonial practices and the consequent Israeli apartheid.
At the very least, Australia’s long overdue recognition of Palestine would replace the impression that, when faced with Israeli atrocities, it is wise to say and do nothing. Not much courage is required. Australia would be in good company: 140 other governments recognise Palestine.
It beggars belief why a December 2018 Labor National Conference resolution for recognition has been ignored.
By withholding recognition, Labor seems content to be complicit in Israel’s ongoing savagery. Fearful politicians will be weighing reasons for their silence, foremost of which is the spurious claim that the appearance of a Palestinian state would threaten Israel’s security.
Then we will hear that recognition of Palestine would undermine efforts to attain peace — that bogus strategy for ensuring a non-existent process can be used to delay Palestinian statehood.
Referring to a non-existent peace, not to Israeli barbarity, guarantees Israel’s continued diplomatic immunity irrespective of the International Court of Justice’s cautious conclusion of Israel committing a “plausible genocide”.
Israeli governments have, for decades, used deceit and hypocrisy about their virtues, while Israeli armed gangs and the Israeli Defense Forces’ terrorist attacks are too easily forgotten.
When foreign policies are conjured by bullies, the principles of international humanitarian law count for little.
In 2024 when Norway, Spain and Ireland recognised Palestine, Israel recalled its ambassadors from those countries, claiming that it meant rewarding terrorism.
In response to Israel’s threats, lies and repetition about the dangers of others’ terrorism, influential Western governments react with a nauseating silence.
Genocide in Gaza, continuing destruction and slaughter in the West Bank leave no room for neutrality, let alone silence.
For a leader such as Prime Minister Albanese, support of Palestinians’ rights to self-determination would be personally therapeutic and politically astute.
Hence this request: Prime Minister, when faced with Israel’s illegal occupation and unending cruelty, end your silence, remind the public of international law and of crucial humanitarian values. Better still, recall Gough Whitlam’s 1972 slogan, “It’s time!” In consequence, Recognise Palestine.
[Stuart Rees AM is Professor Emeritus at the University of Sydney and a recipient of the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize. Shamikh Badra is a PhD candidate at the University of Wollongong, specialising in Palestinian Diplomatic Resistance. This article was first published at .]