What Australia could do to promote a two-state solution

In the wake of Australia’s decision to withdraw recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, ITTAY FLESCHER offers some practical diplomatic steps for advancing the peace process.

Until this week, the only two countries that recognised West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but did not have embassies in the city were Australia and Russia.

On the final day of the month of festivals celebrated by many Australian Jews, Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong reduced the number to one, announcing, “Today the Government has reaffirmed Australia’s 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.”

This undoing of Scott Morrison’s 2018 declaration will undoubtedly raise many discussions, op-eds and heated shabbat table debates about the Australia-Israel relationship over the coming weeks, but few of them will have anything to do with the people who live in Jerusalem, which I why I’m writing this piece.

In her press conference making the announcement, Wong affirmed her awareness that, “This is an issue of great interest to some parts of the Australian community and I would say this: we are committed to international efforts in the responsible pursuit of progress towards a just and enduring two-state solution. I also wish to say to the members of the Jewish community: Australia will always be a steadfast friend of Israel.”

With this in mind, it would be powerful to see Australia expressing its friendship and commitment to the two-state solution by taking the following three steps.

Firstly, encourage Israel to treat those who live in East Jerusalem with the same dignity as those who live in West Jerusalem. It takes a great deal of chutzpah on Israel’s part to demand that the world recognise Jerusalem as its “united capital” when 39 percent of its residents are Palestinians who mostly don’t have the same rights as their Israeli neighbours, don’t have passports, the right to vote in Knesset elections and find it exceedingly difficult to obtain citizenship in the country where they were born. Their residency can be cancelled at the discretion of the Israeli authorities for a number of reasons, and they even have a separate bus and education system.