Australia’s prime minister says he is open to relocating the Australian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. On December 6th, 2017, US President Donald Trump pivoted from decades’ long US foreign policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel…
Australia’s prime minister says he is open to relocating the Australian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Background
On December 6th, 2017, US President Donald Trump pivoted from decades’ long US foreign policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump’s announcement triggered a wave of protests and violence across the Middle East. In May 2018, President Trump’s daughter and White House aide Ivanka Trump inaugurated the new interim US embassy in Jerusalem.
Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem has never been recognized internationally, and according to the 1993 Israel-Palestinian peace accords, the final status of Jerusalem is meant to be discussed in the latter stages of peace talks.
Since 1967, Israel has built a dozen settlements, home to about 200,000 Jews, in East Jerusalem. These are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Australia is the latest country to consider a move to Jerusalem, after Paraguay and the United States.
Analysis
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday that Australia remained committed to finding a two-state solution to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians.
Morrison said the idea was suggested to him by a former ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, who is a candidate for Morrison’s conservative Liberal Party at a crucial by-election on Saturday in a Sydney electorate with a large Jewish population.
Morrison told reporters that Australia should be open-minded to the idea of relocating the embassy.
Morrison, an evangelical Christian, immediately faced questions about whether his religious views had played a part in his decision to float the proposal, something he denied. “My faith and religion have nothing to do with this decision,” he said.
Instead, he argued the status quo in Israeli-Palestinian relations had failed to make headway. “The orthodoxy that’s driven this debate which says issues like considering the question of the capital is taboo. I think we have to challenge that,” he said.
“We’re committed to a two-state solution, but frankly, it hasn’t been going that well,” he said. “Not a lot of progress has been made. And you don’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.”
Any move would go against broad international consensus, which has been that the holy city’s status should be settled in a peace deal.
Mr Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy was denounced by the Palestinians, who said it showed the US could not be a neutral mediator. UN member states also voted decisively at the General Assembly in favour of a resolution effectively calling the US declaration “null and void” and demanding it is cancelled.
Israel regards Jerusalem as its “eternal and undivided” capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem – occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war – as the capital of a future state.
Assessment
Our assessment is that the decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital could make the region, already struggling with multiple conflicts, all the more volatile. We believe that Australia’s consideration of shifting the embassy is an attempt to appease President Trump. However, we also feel that like Paraguay, Australia’s decision is not final and may not proceed beyond it being a mere suggestion.
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