Morrison to end months of painful embassy debate by splitting Jerusalem in two

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will acknowledge Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem in a strong statement this weekend on the need for a two-state solution in the Middle East.

Mr Morrison will announce the new Australian stance at the same time he recognises West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, ending two months of painful debate over the contentious move.

In an important proviso, the Prime Minister will emphasise the status of West Jerusalem as the long-standing capital of Israel after heated speculation about whether the Australian recognition might apply to the entirety of the city.

The outcome is seen within the government as a practical resolution that supports the United Nations’ objective of a two-state solution, soothing concerns among Muslim nations about any affront to the Palestinians.

While Mr Morrison announced on October 16 that the Australian embassy might be moved to Jerusalem, his new statement makes it clear this would only happen with a lasting settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Prime Minister’s statement, to be made to the Sydney Institute on Saturday, is understood to acknowledge the Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem and raise the prospect of formal recognition in the future.

It will come as Labor highlights its differences with the government on foreign policy by committing $20 million in foreign aid for United Nations help for Palestinian refugees, along with $10 million for the Rohingya people in Myanmar.

Read the article by David Crowe in The Sydney Morning Herald.

[Editor: In typical form the SMH has included an old video (Sept 2017) about the eviction of a Palestinian family from their supposed home in East Jerusalem. 

At the time the story of the eviction of the Arab Shamasneh family from a house in Jerusalem’s Shimon Hatzaddik neighbourhood has spread like wildfire around the world. It was a gift to the Palestinian propaganda machine: Israelis are being painted as heartless creatures who are throwing  elderly Arabs out on the street. 

Read the full facts of this case.]