Amid the furore of the public debate about the war in Gaza, and whether Australia should now recognise Palestine, it is too often forgotten that recognition of a Palestinian state is the outcome preferred by both sides of politics. Since the first Oslo Accord, which created the Palestinian Authority and set in train the long-since interrupted peace process, the ultimate goal has been to achieve a “two-state solution”.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since that sunny day in the White House Rose Garden in September 1993 when Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat, under the benign gaze of US president Bill Clinton. Today, peace between Israelis and Palestinians is much further away than it seemed then. Nevertheless, the two-state solution remains the objective; the question is not whether Palestinian statehood should be recognised, but when and on what conditions.

Mounted police disperse demonstrators blocking a highway in Tel Aviv during a weekend protest demanding the release of all hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and calling for an end to the war. Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

As with most other democracies, Australia has long taken the view that that should not happen until Israel’s right to exist is acknowledged – as it was by the Oslo Accords – and its security credibly assured by the Palestinians.

Since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, the Palestinian Authority has been unable to give that assurance. The consequences for Israel of Hamas’ control of Gaza – against which Israeli leaders long before........

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