Australia Moves Toward Recognizing Palestine

(MENAFN) Australian senator and ex-member of the governing Labor Party, Fatima Payman, expressed elation on Monday following Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's announcement that the nation would formally acknowledge an independent Palestinian state.

“It feels so amazing to have joined every single person out there, every Australian out there who put pressure on the government and wanted them to do what’s right by the Palestinian people to be on the right side of history and today is the day,” stated an overjoyed Senator Payman in a video message.

Prime Minister Albanese declared that Canberra would officially recognize Palestine during the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly scheduled for September.

“Thank you so much to all the Labor Party members, unionists who have proudly pushed and pressured the Labor government to do better,” added the senator, who has Afghan heritage.

Senator Payman, who became a member of the Labor Party in 2014, was expelled by Albanese after she broke party ranks last year by supporting a motion in parliament advocating for Palestinian statehood. “I’m absolutely thrilled,” she remarked about the recent decision.

In the wake of the Prime Minister’s declaration, Payman emphasized: “Now we need sanctions on Israel, an end to the arms trade, and an end the violence, oppression and occupation for a free Palestine!”

The Opposition Greens Party had introduced two proposals in the previous year calling for Palestinian recognition.

However, both were rejected by members of the ruling party as well as opposition lawmakers.

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