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Australia considers recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital

Australia will consider recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and shifting its embassy there from Tel Aviv, Australia's Prime Minister said on Tuesday.

 

The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector that it annexed after the 1967 Middle East war, as its capital.

 

Last December, US President Donald Trump reversed decades of US policy by recognising Jerusalem, enraging the Palestinians and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies.

 

Australia was firm in its refusal to follow suit at the time, however Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in parliament he was now "open-minded" about doing so, while not changing Australia's policy of support for a Palestinian state.

 

"The orthodoxy that's driven this debate which says issues like considering the question of the capital are taboo. I think we have to challenge that," Morrison said.

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.16.18, 08:28