AUSTRALIA POOL VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks at a news convention Tuesday in Canberra, Australia. Wong announced that Australia had rescinded the popularity of a previous government of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
CANBERRA, Australia >> Australia rescinded a previous government’s popularity of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Israel’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
The center-left Labor government agreed to recognize Tel Aviv as the capital again. The cabinet also reaffirmed that Jerusalem’s prestige should be resolved through peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.
Australia remains committed to a bipartisan solution to the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation, and “we will not use a technique that undermines that perspective,” Wong said.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid expressed sadness at Australia’s replacement.
“Jerusalem is the eternal and undivided capital of Israel and nothing will,” Lapid said in a statement.
Wong said his branch made a mistake by updating Australia’s revised policy on Israel’s capital before the Cabinet showed the change.
This led to conflicting media reports about Australia ahead of Wong’s announcement.
Lapid gave the impression of blaming media confusion for Australia changing its policy.
“Despite the way the resolution was made in Australia, in hasty reaction to an erroneous report in the media, one can only hope that the Australian government will behave more seriously and professionally on other issues,” Lapid said.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it would summon Australia’s ambassador to “deep disappointment” over a resolution “based on short-sighted political considerations. “
Senior Palestinian official Hussein Al-Sheikh said he welcomed Australia’s resolution “and its statement that the long-term sovereignty over Jerusalem depends on the permanent solution of foreign legitimacy. “
Former Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison officially identified West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2018, the Australian embassy remained in Tel Aviv.
The update followed the United States of the time. President Donald Trump’s resolution to move the U. S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President Joe Biden has kept the embassy in Jerusalem as the United States pulls out of its intense mediation between Israelis and Palestinians, who have held substantive peace talks for more than a decade.
Wong described Morrison’s resolve as out of step around the world and a “cynical game” to win a by-election in a Sydney town with a giant Jewish population.
Morrison’s Liberal Party fielded Jewish candidate Dave Sharma, who defeated in the by-election but won the seat in the next general election.
Morrison’s government fell apart in May after nine years in power.
Nasser Mashni, vice president of the Australian Palestinian human rights organization Advocacy Network, thanked the organization for “distancing itself from the harmful political stance of the past Array. “
“This change of course returns Australia to foreign consensus: Australia will not have to prejudge Jerusalem’s ultimate prestige,” Mashni said in a statement.
“Israel claims that the entire city belongs exclusively to them, denying the Palestinian connection to its ancient spiritual, cultural and economic capital,” Mashni added.
The Executive Council of the Jewish Community of Australia, which represents Australia’s Jewish community, called the reversal “a rampant insult to a key economic and strategic ally. “
“This resolution flatters the Labor Party’s excess to the maximum and will also discourage the Palestinians from resuming negotiations,” the council said in a statement.
Morrison, who remains an opposition lawmaker, said the government’s resolution is disappointing.
The resolution “represents a further minimum in Australia for the State of Israel by the Labour government from the highest point set by the Morrison government,” his office said in a statement.
But opposition leader Peter Dutton has left the door open for the Conservatives to abandon Morrison’s policies.
“We will make an announcement about us in the run-up to the next election,” Dutton told reporters. The next elections are scheduled for 2025.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham described the replacement as a “total decision” that followed a “chaotic process”.
In the 1967 Middle East War, Israel seized East Jerusalem, home to the holy sites of 3 religions, as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a long-term state. Jerusalem’s prestige remains one of the thorniest issues in the decades-long standoff that has sparked rounds of violence.
Only a few countries, besides Kosovo and Guatemala, have joined the United States in identifying Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
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