2 weeks Ago By Matthew Knott
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has expressed regret that Australia was unable to vote for a United Nations resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza within a year, saying the nation’s diplomats had tried and failed to redraft the motion to make it less contentious. Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations insisted that, despite the country’s abstention, it is only a matter of time until Australia recognises an independent Palestinian state. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was disappointed it could not secure amendments to the resolution.
Credit: Alex Ellinghausen The non-binding motion, which also called for Israel to make reparations to Palestinians for damages incurred by the occupation, passed the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly on Wednesday, with 124 nations voting in favour and 12 voting against. Forty-three nations abstained from the vote after a push by Australia and other countries failed to convince the Palestinian Authority to water down its motion, intended to force Israel to comply with a July International Court of Justice (ICJ) opinion that found its occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank was illegal. Palestinian advocates had urged the government to back the resolution , while Jewish groups said it would be “inconceivable” for Australia to vote any way but against the motion because it was inconsistent with the nation’s longstanding support for a negotiated two-state solution.
The Albanese government angered Israel with its previous two high-profile UN votes on the Israel-Palestine issue by backing a December resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza and a May resolution expanding Palestinians’ right to participate at the UN . Representatives attending the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly last week. Credit: AP In abstaining on the latest vote, Australia joined the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Ukraine while voting differently to the United States, which voted against the motion.
“We wish we were in a position to have been able to support it,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong told ABC radio on Thursday. Wong said Australia’s diplomats worked hard to secure amendments to allow it to vote yes – as the nation did in the previous two UN votes – but failed to convince the Palestinian delegation to rewrite the resolution to more narrowly reflect the ICJ’s finding. “I would say there are many things the resolution calls for we are already doing,” she said.
“We do not supply weapons to Israel, we have imposed sanctions on a range of extremist Israeli settlers and we will deny any extremist settlers entry to Australia. “We wish we were in a position to be able to support [the resolution].” James Larsen, Australia’s representative to the United Nations, told the general assembly: “We wanted to vote for a resolution that clearly offered the Palestinian people a path to self-determination and gave the world a path to a two-state solution .
.. however, we are concerned that by making demands of the entire UN membership that go beyond the scope of the advisory opinion, the resolution distracts from what the world needs Israel to do.
” Declaring that “the occupation must be brought to an end”, Larson alluded to a high-profile speech earlier this year in which Wong said Australia could recognise a Palestinian state before a final peace settlement with Israel. “We have moved our position on recognition: we now see recognition as an integral part of a peace process, and as a way to contribute meaningfully towards the realisation of a two-state solution,” he said. “It’s a matter of when, not if.
” Jewish groups reacted angrily to the vote, with Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim saying that Australia “should have voted no instead of taking the morally cowardly way out and abstaining”. The Zionist Federation of Australia said it was “deeply disappointed” by the vote, saying: “By abstaining, Australia distances itself from its natural ally, the United States, who stood with Israel in this critical moment by voting against this motion. “Australia has missed an important opportunity to take a strong stand against the politicisation of the UN and in favour of a negotiated, peaceful resolution benefiting both Israelis and Palestinians.
” The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network was contacted for comment. Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter .
.
