Australia on Tuesday reversed a decision made by the previous Conservative government to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that the country has reaffirmed its previous and longstanding position that “Jerusalem is a final status issue that should be resolved as part of any peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people.”
Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had formally recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2018, although the Australian embassy continued to remained in Tel Aviv. The development had come after the United States had decided to move its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2017.
However, on Tuesday, the Labor Party government said that Australia is committed to a two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine coexist within internationally recognised borders.
“I regret that Morrison’s decision to play politics resulted in Australia’s shifting position, and the distress these shifts have caused to many people in the Australian community who care deeply about this issue,” Wong said.
On December 6, 2017, Donald Trump, who was the president of the United States at the time, had formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The decision was in contrast to years of US foreign policy that said the status of Jerusalem should be decided through negotiations between Israel and Palestine, which wants East Jerusalem as the Capital of the future state.
Following Wong’s statement on Tuesday, the Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid criticised the decision.
“In light of the way in which this decision was made in Australia, as a hasty response to an incorrect report in the media, we can only hope that the Australian government manages other matters more seriously and professionally,” Lapid said. “Jerusalem is the eternal undivided capital of Israel and nothing will change that.”
The Israeli foreign ministry said that it would summon the Australian ambassador to a meeting to register its “deep disappointment in the face of the Australian government’s decision resulting from short-sighted political considerations”.
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