Australia is set to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September. This follows similar declarations in recent months by other Western states, including the UK, Canada, and France.

Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have called this “shameful”. On Sunday, the Israeli prime minister, who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in November 2024, attacked Australia and several European countries for both recognising Palestine and urging Israel to end its mass starvation and killing in Gaza.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announces that Australia will recognise Palestine as a state.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

His remarks tell us two things. First, they reflect a leadership unfazed by the prospect of recognition changing anything on the ground. Second, they expose a confidence, shaped by decades of experience, that Western recognition and diplomacy on Palestine rarely come with meaningful consequences.

While the reality for Palestinians has never been more bleak and suffocating, Israeli colonisation of what remains of Palestine has never been fiercer since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, even before October 2023, endured their deadliest year on record since that occupation began.

The settlement enterprise has gone into overdrive since the current government assumed office in December 2022. The E1 settlement plan, which would divide the West Bank into two sections and has long been regarded as the final blow to any hypothetical two-state solution, is now being

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