Palestinian Authority says Australia's recognition will encourage other nations to follow

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a day ago

The Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank says it is prepared to yield to demands from countries including Australia to reform its processes and administration, as part of the process to recognise Palestinian statehood.
On Monday, the Australian government announced it would shift its policy in the Middle East and recognise a Palestinian state, following similar moves by France, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Each of those nations have attached slightly different conditions to their support, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying the PA needed to commit to measures such as demilitarisation, financial transparency and to hold elections.
"Reform is a Palestinian demand," the PA's foreign minister Varsen Aghabekian told the ABC from her offices in Ramallah.
"Yes, there were conditions by various countries on reform — but as a start, it's a Palestinian demand.
"We want to become better in terms of how we govern our institutions, how we deal with our money, how we use best practices."
The last Palestinian presidential election was in 2005, while the last parliamentary election was the following year.
Dr Aghabekian blamed Israeli restrictions for making it too difficult to hold a poll.
"Elections are a must, and as Palestinians, we want democratic processes, we want a democratic country whereby we can elect our leaders and we have been denied that democratic process because we are living under abnormal conditions," she said.
"We are under occupation and that democratic process cannot include the entirety of occupied Palestine today."
She said Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem were being blocked from taking part, and Gazans also needed to have their say in any ballots.
Despite the Albanese government's insistence it is not a major player in the Middle East, the PA foreign minister argued it was influential in global affairs.
"Australia is a weighty country, its recognition will make a difference, it will bring others to recognise, hopefully, and it safeguards the two-state solution," she said.
"It sends a very clear message that Australia is with international law, it respects international law, it respects the rights of people to self-determination, and it wants to move alongside the Palestinians and the Israelis on the peace track."
Dr Aghabekian said she had received a call from her Australian counterpart Penny Wong on Sunday night, local time, informing her an announcement was imminent.
But she revealed she woke to the news on Monday morning with surprise, hours after Senator Wong and Prime Minister Albanese revealed the decision in Canberra.
While Australia has joined allies in the move, the biggest player in the debate has not, with the United States remaining opposed.
"It's not fruitless, it's fruitful," Dr Aghabekian said of the Albanese government's decision to act before the US.
"That will create a critical mass of nearly the whole world saying that there's a consensus on this illegal occupation and the need to dismantle this occupation."
A White House official said the US President Donald Trump viewed recognising a Palestinian state now as a reward for Hamas after the deadly October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Fifty Israeli hostages are still held captive in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
It echoes the rhetoric from senior members of the Israeli government, including President Isaac Herzog.
"These declarations, by Australia and other countries, are a reward for terror, a prize for the enemies of freedom, liberty, and democracy," he said on Monday.
"This is a grave and dangerous mistake, which will not help a single Palestinian and sadly will not bring back a single hostage."
Ahead of the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was "shameful" countries such as Australia would consider the issue.
Dr Aghabekian rejected the sentiment.
"It's not a reward for Hamas, it is a reward for the plight of the Palestinian people who have been suffering immensely for seven decades.
"And non-recognition is a reward to the extremists in Israel, whether in the government or the settler organisations and their leaders."
Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories was ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice last year.
News of the Albanese government's decision had quickly spread through the streets of Ramallah, 15 kilometres and a concrete wall away from Jerusalem.
"Honestly, it's amazing," Saida Shahout told the ABC.
"We've seen something that we've never seen before, which is more countries are siding with us and seeing the injustice that's happening with our country and with the people of Gaza."
Her sister Huseina said the move was long overdue.
"We're at this point in our lives where why does everything have to [come from] war? " she said.
"Why is it always a violent action? Why can't we just come to an agreement? You're a person, I'm a person and we can both sit at the same table and have a meal.
"When you cut me, I bleed the same colour you bleed — there should be no difference between the two."
West Bank resident Amjad Tamimi welcomed the decision.
"I see the Australian advancement together with many other countries — France which was, to be honest, the first initiator in this direction — this is a good thing and will bring peace to the region and stability," he said.
"Naturally this talk, the recognition of these states, the Palestinian state, will have an impact on the Palestinian situation in general — the political situation, the economic situation, the social situation."
Fellow local Azmi Samah feared symbolism would only go so far, as the Palestinian population was under threat from Israeli forces.
"The Palestinians have been here for a long time, we are not waiting to be recognised, they recognise us from the outside, but if we are not given a state, then we have not benefited," he said.
"So if the whole world recognises it and we in the reality don't have a state, then we have not benefited from this at all."
His comments point to the concerns around issues such as Israeli settlements being built throughout the West Bank — a practice that is illegal under international law, but which the Israeli government approves and encourages.
The Albanese Government's push to recognise Palestinian statehood has happened 22 months into the war in Gaza, where local health authorities say more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed.
"What we are experiencing is something incomprehensible, something that we have never experienced in the past," Dr Aghabekian said.
"And this recognition brings to the Palestinian people a glimpse of hope, and this is exactly what the Palestinian people would like to feel, especially at this specific moment.
The shift in Australian foreign policy also comes days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion of his country's military offensive in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu has rejected international condemnation of plans to seize control of Gaza City, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the process.
He insisted it was the way to end the war with Hamas quickly, and claimed Arab nations — not the PA — could take over civil governance of the strip in the post-Hamas era.
"Israel can say whatever it wants, because, frankly, Israel doesn't want to see anybody in the Gaza Strip," Dr Aghabekian said.
"But the only entity that can shoulder that responsibility is the Palestinian Authority, and it can be supported by the Arab, Islamic, and the world at large in terms of the assistance, the security assistance, the technical assistance, the funding that is needed."