In news that will shock absolutely no one, the Coalition is not budging on recognising a Palestinian state, even as Australian allies move in that direction because it is now seen as the only way to start a sustained peace process. Which in this case means – an end to the Israeli slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Here was James Paterson this morning at a doorstop:

I don’t, I don’t think the Australian government should recognise a Palestinian state until and unless there has been a successful negotiation of peace between Israel and Palestine as consistent with our long-standing bipartisan position on the resolution of this conflict. We support a two-state solution. We do not support recognising a state which is right now, today, governed in part, by a listed terrorist organisation that is holding 50 hostages, that swears the destruction of the Israeli state, and that’s just Hamas in Gaza.

There are profound problems with the governing authority in the West Bank as well, the Palestinian Authority, which hasn’t held an election for 20 years, which is deeply corrupt, which has paid money to the families of suicide bombers who have blown up Israelis, and which promotes hatred against the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and has not accepted their right to exist. So it is extraordinary that the Australian government would contemplate recognising such a state.

Members of Israel’s leadership are currently wanted by the ICC on allegations of war crimes. And yet that doesn’t seem to enter into Paterson’s concerns here at all.