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06-02-2025
CANBERRA: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said; the government supported a two-state solution in the Middle East, following US. President Donald Trump’s shock announcement of plans to take over the Gaza Strip.
“Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year,” Albanese told a news conference.
“The Australian government supports on a bipartisan basis, a two-state solution.”
Trump announced during a joint conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he planned to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians in neighboring countries.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” he said.
Anthony Albanese and the Coalition are continuing to back Australia’s push for a two-state solution in Gaza despite the US president, Donald Trump, vowing to take control of the war-torn strip and permanently “resettle” Palestinians elsewhere in the Middle East.
In a joint press conference with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the “US will take over the Gaza Strip” and relocate Palestinians living there to a “beautiful area with homes and safety … so that they can live out their lives in peace and harmony”.
The announcement marks a significant departure from the previous US administration’s policy, which supported a two-state solution, and is at odds with other US allies, including Australia, Canada and the UK.
The US’s major policy shift could also put further pressure on the Albanese government to maintain cordial relations with Israel amid escalating rhetoric and criticism from the country over Australia’s recent UN votes.
Albanese refused to answer to questions on Wednesday about Australia’s response to Trump’s announcement, including whether Australia would join the US, if requested, in peacekeeping missions in Gaza.
“What I would say is that Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year, and it was 10 years ago, and as it was under the Howard government; the Australian government supports, and on a bipartisan basis, a two-state solution on the Middle East,” he said.
“I’m not going to, as Australia’s prime minister, give a daily commentary on statements by the US president. My job is to support Australia’s position.”
Liberal MP Julian Leeser told Sky News the opposition’s policy on a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel remained unchanged despite Trump’s comments.
“It’s not a policy we put forward,” he said. “I’m going to get back to first principles that we want to see as a priority, the hostages returned home. We want to see a peace in the Middle East.”
Liberal senator, Dave Sharma, who was once Australia’s ambassador to Israel, said it would be “too soon” for Australia to shift its foreign policy in response to Trump’s announcements.
“Something that Donald Trump staff often say about him is ‘take him seriously, but don’t take him literally’,” he told media.
“I think he has demonstrated the seriousness of his intent, if you like, to grapple with and seek to resolve this problem but quite how that’s done in the details, I don’t think we necessarily take today’s announcement as the final script.”
As part of his announcement at the White House on Tuesday US time, Trump said the US would “take over”, “own” and “level” Gaza before adding the strip could become the “the Riviera of the Middle East”. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
