AUSTRALIA: WEST JERUSALEM IS ISRAEL’S CAPITAL
Australia supports two-state solution with a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, says PM
AUSTRALIA formally recognises West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing decades of Middle East policy, but will not move its embassy there immediately, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday.
“Australia now recognises West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel,” Morrison said.
“We look forward to moving our embassy to West Jerusalem when practical.”
He confirmed Australia’s support for a two-state solution with a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.
In October, Morrison said he was open to shifting Australia’s embassy from Tel Aviv.
United States President Donald Trump’s move of the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in May delighted Israel, infuriated Palestinians and upset the Arab world and Western allies.
Morrison’s announcement in October was viewed cynically because it came days before a crucial by-election in an electorate with a strong Jewish representation, a poll his party lost.
It drew criticism from Muslimmajority neighbours, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, neither of whom formally recognise Israel’s right to exist. Arab countries worried the move would inflame tensions in the Middle East.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Australian announcement was born of “petty domestic politics”.
“The policies of this Australian administration have done nothing to advance the two-state solution,” Erekat said. “All of Jerusalem remains a final status issue for negotiations, while East Jerusalem, under international law, is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Arrmanatha Nasir, said Australia had not moved its embassy to Jerusalem and called on all members of the United Nations to recognise a Palestinian state “based on the principle of two-state solutions”.
Morrison said Australia would not move its embassy to West Jerusalem until the city’s final status was determined, but said trade and defence offices would be opened there.
The status of Jerusalem, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths, is one of the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians who want East Jerusalem recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state.
Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, including the eastern sector that it annexed in a move not recognised internationally, after the 1967 Middle East war.