Australia planning to recognize Palestinian state

Australia will recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said.

“Australia recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to have their own state,” Albanese stated.

Albanese added that Australia will recognize Palestine on the condition that the country fulfills the commitments made by the Palestinian National Authority, in particular, the exclusion of the Hamas group from governing the country.

Australia’s prime minister also said that he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him that a political, not a military, solution is needed in Gaza.