Wong reaffirms statehood conditions before conference

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has reaffirmed the conditions Australia set around its recognition of a Palestinian state in an announcement that comes days before Labor’s national conference begins.

It comes after The AJN reported earlier this month that a draft platform circulated ahead of the conference had dropped explicit requirements for Hamas to disarm and the Palestinian Authority to reform, and after the Israeli embassy this week weighed in on the issue.

In a joint statement today (Tuesday) with Minister for International Development Anne Aly, Wong noted that a new $25 million support package for recovery in Gaza and to “strengthen the institutional foundations of the State of Palestine” included $10 million to the World Bank’s Palestinian Fund for Reconstruction and Development, to strengthen the Palestinian Authority’s public financial management.

Wong said strong, accountable and effective Palestinian institutions would be critical to recovery, regional stability and the long-term prospects for peace.

“We will continue to work with partners to hold the Palestinian Authority to commitments it has made to Australia and the international community which include to reform governance, terminate prisoner payments, institute schooling reform, demilitarise and hold general elections,” the statement said.

“Australia remains unequivocal in its condemnation of Hamas, including for its atrocities on 7 October 2023 and its ongoing acts of terror. The Australian Government reaffirms that Hamas must disarm and play no role in the State of Palestine.”

The AJN understands the wording was included in the statement after the government was approached and asked why the conditions it had set around Palestinian statehood recognition — governance reform, an end to payments that reward terrorism, demilitarisation and no role for Hamas — had not been addressed in any of the conference motions.

The reaffirmation followed a detailed statement from the Embassy of Israel, in which it said it would continue to engage constructively with Labor through diplomatic channels, but submitted that several elements of the conference draft risked placing responsibility for the conflict on one party while giving insufficient attention to the conduct and obligations of the Palestinian leadership and terrorist organisations such as Hamas.

The embassy argued that recognition of a Palestinian state without genuine reform strengthened radicals, was perceived as a reward for terrorism and had not changed the Palestinian Authority’s conduct. It said the authority continued to maintain its “pay for slay” stipends to terrorists, to incite through its education system and media, and had not held a presidential election since 2005, and that it fell short of the criteria for statehood under the Montevideo Convention.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told The Australian this week that repairing the Canberra–Jerusalem relationship was also conditional on Australia’s conduct at forums such as the United Nations.

She said Israel would never withdraw military or intelligence cooperation, which saved Australian lives, but that Australia’s tendency to back anti-Israel motions was a significant sticking point. Haskel said Israel wanted Australia to stop automatically supporting motions against it, to take a more impartial approach, and to do more to address antisemitism — requests she said had not yet been acted upon.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler on Tuesday welcomed Wong’s reaffirmation.

But he said, ”The question is why Labor’s draft platform no longer states those same commitments with the same clarity.

“If they are important enough to underpin Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state, they are important enough to remain in Labor’s platform.”

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said Hamas’ disarmament and PA reforms were not peripheral issues but central conditions repeatedly articulated by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as prerequisites for Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

“These essential principles have been re-affirmed by the Government on numerous occasions, including in a media release from Foreign Minister Wong on July 21. Any attempt by the ALP National Conference to water them down not only undermines Australia’s long-standing bipartisan policy on the Middle East, but damages Australia’s national interests in seeking regional stability and security,” he said.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wetheim said, “Australia’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have repeatedly acknowledged that Hamas can have no role to play in any Palestinian government. Even Hamas itself has acknowledged it, by announcing a hand-over of its government functions to a US-backed technocratic committee. But apparently the ALP National Conference cannot quite bring itself to acknowledge it.

“Instead of providing an honest assessment of the leadership on both sides of the conflict, the draft platform regurgitates the same old one-eyed obsession with blaming Israel. It is a reasonable question to ask why the ALP National Conference is not backing in the Albanese government in expressly recognising the government’s position.”

Australian Jewish Association CEO Robert Gregory described the draft platform as “divorced from reality” and said recognising a Palestinian state had been “a mistake from the outset”.

“What was once a strong bipartisan commitment to Israel has deteriorated rapidly under the Albanese government,” he said.

“Australia’s positions may have little influence on events in the Middle East, but they have had real consequences here at home. It is the Australian Jewish community that has borne the cost through rising hostility and division.”