Report: Commitments unlikely to be implemented

An Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) report released last week found that PA president Mahmoud Abbas’s commitments in return for recognition of Palestinian statehood are unlikely to be implemented.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in August that Australia’s recognition would be “predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority [PA]”, including recognising Israel’s right to exist, demilitarising, holding elections, and abolishing the “pay-for-slay” program.

However, AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said Abbas had “pledged reforms that the Palestinian public overwhelmingly reject”.

“Disarming Hamas, ending terrorist stipends, creating a demilitarised state and holding free elections are promises made for Western consumption, not deliverables grounded in Palestinian political reality,” Rubenstein said.

The AIJAC report analysed over a decade of Palestinian public opinion polling and found that Palestinian attitudes were “fundamentally at odds” with Abbas’s promises.

“They support violence, want to keep armed militias and reject demilitarisation,” Report author Bren Carlill, AIJAC director of special projects, said.

“They also see the Palestinian Authority as corrupt and illegitimate. Without legitimacy the PA cannot enforce unpopular reforms, but without reforms there can be no viable peace.”

The analysis also found that large majorities of Palestinians opposed disarming Hamas or other militias, even as part of a peace settlement.

Two-thirds opposed ending stipends to terrorists, while violence and terrorism were “very popular” and preferred over negotiations or non-violence, according to the polling data.

Last week, in an unprecedented joint statement, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (Canada) urged their respective governments to reconsider what they said would be seen by Hamas as “a reward for its violence and rejectionism towards Israel”.

“Hamas has welcomed our governments’ declarations of an intention to recognise a Palestinian state as the ‘fruits of October 7’,” the joint statement said.

The joint statement called on governments to keep several priorities central to their diplomatic efforts: the return of all remaining hostages taken on or before October 7, 2023; the disarming of Hamas and its removal from power; ensuring aid for Gaza civilians is not diverted to Hamas; and adherence to international law by all parties.

“Our governments are in effect saying that the fulfilment of these requirements post-recognition will be taken on trust and left for some unspecified time in the future,” the statement said. “This is a posture that lacks credibility, borders on recklessness, and sets up Palestinian statehood for failure from the outset.”