From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Before Netanyahu arrives, Australia boosts 2-state solution
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleOne day before Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to land in Sydney for the first-ever visit down under by a sitting Israeli prime minister, Australia’s leader endorses the two-state solution.
At the same time, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warmly welcomes his Israeli counterpart, calls the Jewish state a “miraculous nation” and states unequivocally that his government would not have supported UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which in December harshly criticized Israel’s settlement enterprise.
“My government will not support one-sided resolutions criticizing Israel of the kind recently adopted by the UN Security Council and we deplore the boycott campaigns designed to legitimize the Jewish state,” Turnbull writes in the “Australian” newspaper.
“At the same time, we recognize that Israel and the Palestinians need to come to a settlement and we support a directly negotiated two-state solution so that Palestinians will have their own state and the people of Israel can be secure within agreed borders,” he writes.
In a time of deep and intractable conflicts in the Middle East, Israeli and Palestinian leaders “should return to the negotiating table and work towards a solution that upholds the rights of both peoples to live side by side in peace and security,” Turnbull adds.
After a two-state visit to Singapore, Netanyahu and his delegation will tomorrow make their way to Sydney, where he will stay until Sunday, meeting with top government officials and senior leaders of the Jewish community.
— Raphael Ahren
The Times of Israel Community.