Reacting to Australia's announcement that it will recognise the state of Palestine at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, Oxfam Australia Interim Chief Executive Officer Dr. Chrisanta Muli said:
"We welcome the announcement today that Australia will recognise the state of Palestine. This recognition is a landmark decision and is a crucial step in affirming the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination.
However, talking about recognition while a genocide is ongoing, without taking the necessary measures to stop it and ensure accountability, risks sounding tone-deaf and letting governments off the hook.
"Recognition must be part of a irreversible strategy to end Israel's illegal occupation, dismantle illegal settlements, reunify the Palestinian territory including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and establish full sovereignty of the State. It must also be linked to concrete, time-bound measures to lift Israel's blockade, safeguard rights, support Palestinian governance, press for swift UN Security Council recognition of Palestine as a full member state and ensure reparation and rebuilding to address the ruinous destruction and loss inflicted on the people of Gaza.
"Gaza's humanitarian situation is catastrophic, marked by famine spreading throughout the Strip, an alarming rise in malnutrition rates and death from malnutrition, repeated forced displacements, and the destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure and systems. Israel has deliberately blocked the entry of food, water, medicines and basic services like healthcare, with a near-total siege on Gaza, since March.
"We urgently need an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Australia must apply full diplomatic pressure to restore principled, safe, predictable, unimpeded, and sustained humanitarian access across Gaza through a return to a UN-led coordination mechanism grounded in humanitarian principles and international law."
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