TRANSCRIPT
With no clear end in sight after over 100 days of conflict in the Gaza, world leaders have publicly disagreed over the future of governance in the Occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced criticism from the international community, including from closest ally the US, over his rejection of the possibility of the often cited two-state solution.
Last week Mr Netanyahu spoke to Washington directly when he said he objected to any Palestinian statehood that did not guarantee Israel's security.
"In any future arrangement - settlement or no settlement - Israel needs security control over all territory west of the Jordan. This is a necessary condition and it collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can you do? I tell this truth to our American friends and I also stopped the attempt to impose a reality on us that would harm Israel's security. The prime minister needs to be capable of saying no to our friends - saying no when necessary, and saying yes when possible."
The idea of a two-state solution is inextricably linked to the history of the conflict in the Middle East.
It came about in 1947 when the British rulers of then-Palestine, following a post-World War One mandate, sought to hand over control to the newly-formed United Nations.
Ian Parmeter, Research Scholar and Middle East Expert at ANU's Centre of Arab and Islamic studies in Canberra, explains.
"In 1947 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution which created two states in the Middle East. It would have been a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jewish representatives accepted the state that they were offered, but the Arab representatives, the Palestinian representatives didn't because they said it was unfair."
Encouraged by their regional Middle Eastern allies, the Palestinians rejected the plans which would have seen them keep land in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem and in the north of the country, but ceding control of large areas of land which until then had been part of a Palestinian state.
That provoked Israel to wage its 1948 war of independence, which saw the formation of the Israeli state, as well as mass exodus of Palestinian refugees into Gaza, the West Bank and the wider region.
In the 1967 war, Israel briefly took total control of Gaza and the West Bank and began encouraging Israeli settlements, against Article 39 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, in those regions.
Settlements in Gaza have since been dismantled, but have continued in the West Bank.
Mr Parmeter says this stands in the way of a resolution, along with the unpopularity of the two-state solution in Israel, which is now the state recognised by most nations, .
"The West Bank and Gaza would be the two areas where a Palestinian state would be formed, but to do that, you would have to remove the settlers from the West Bank, and it would be impossible for any government, any Israeli government at this stage to remove those settlers from that area."
He says this is likely why Mr Netanyahu, one of the solution's loudest, longstanding opponents, has doubled down on his position, in the face of plummetting approval ratings following the state of the conflict.
US President Joe Biden is also beholden to strong domestic support for total Israeli sovereignty in the region, including among a significant evangelical Christian voter-base.
But he has defended his continued support for a Palestinian state to reporters following his first telephone call with Mr Netanyahu in a month after the leaders appeared to clash over it.
BIDEN: ''There are a number of types of two-state solutions. There's a number of countries that are members of the UN, that still don't have their own militaries and a number of states that have (unintelligible) And so I think there's ways in which this could work.”
JOURNALIST: “But, Bibi has said he’s opposed to a two-state solution.”
BIDEN: “No, he didn’t say no, he didn’t say that.”
But Mr Netanyahu has poured cold water on that idea, saying he had firmly stood by his position and will continue to do so as long as he is Prime Minister.
"I emphasized to President Biden our determination to complete all war objectives, and to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. That is why I insist that after we achieve complete victory after we eliminate Hamas, there will be no factor in Gaza that finances terrorism, educator of terrorism or courier of terrorism. Gaza must be demilitarized and under the full security control of the State of Israel. I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan."
Nevertheless, international calls for respect for the two-state solution have continued.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong on her recent trip to the Middle East reiterated the Albanese government's support for the solution and the "legitimate aspirations" of the Palestinian people.
And UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned Mr Netanyahu's latest comments on Palestinian statehood.
"The denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people will indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security, exacerbate polarisation, and embolden extremists everywhere.”
But Mr Parmeter says ideas for a separate Palestinian state, including a demilitarised one, as was called for by the ultimately unsuccessful Oslo Accords of 1993, now look near-impossible.
Those, including people from our government who call for a two-state solution are essentially kicking the can down the road, because a two-state solution in the situation where there are now 500,000 settlers in the West Bank is now really out of the question."
