Scott Morrison is criticised by the Opposition for his 'all risk and no gain' decision

Australia has decided to formally recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but will not move its embassy from Tel Aviv until a peace settlement is achieved.

Prime minister Scott Morrison said his nation would also recognise a future state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, but only after a deal has been reached on a two-state solution.

Both Israel and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital.

"Australia now recognises West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel," Mr Morrison said in a speech in Sydney.

"We look forward to moving our embassy to West Jerusalem when practical."

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The opposition Labor party criticised Mr Morrison for putting "self-interest ahead of the national interest".

"Recognising West Jerusalem as Israel's capital, while continuing to locate Australia's embassy in Tel Aviv, is nothing more than a face-saving exercise," shadow minister for foreign affairs Penny Wong said in a statement.

"This is a decision which is all risk and no gain," she said, adding it puts Australia "out of step" with the international community.

In an unexpected announcement in October, Mr Morrison said he was open to moving Australia's embassy from Tel Aviv.

The shift in policy was viewed cynically because it came days before a crucial by-election in an electorate with a strong Jewish representation, a poll Mr Morrison's party subsequently lost.

Australia became one of just a few governments around the world to follow US President Donald Trump's lead and recognise the contested city as Israel's capital.

After Mr Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, tens of thousands of Palestinians protested near the heavily-protected Israeli border. At least 62 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire.

The move also drew criticism from Muslim-majority neighbours such as Indonesia and Malaysia, threatening a free trade deal which has now been delayed.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move that is not internationally recognised.

Israel considers East Jerusalem an indivisible part of its capital, while the Palestinians seek the area, home to the city's most sensitive holy sites, as the capital of a future state.</s>Israeli forces arrested 40 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank overnight during a manhunt for the perpetrator of a deadly attack, the army said on Friday.

The West Bank, which Israel has occupied for more than 50 years, saw the third Palestinian shooting in two months Thursday, with an attacker killing two Israeli soldiers near a Jewish settlement before fleeing the scene.

The army announced reinforcements after the attack and carried out raids in the nearby city of Ramallah, where Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is based, and other places.

"Forces apprehended 40 suspects wanted for their involvement in terror activities, popular terror and violent riots targeting civilians and security forces," an army statement said.

It said 37 of them were known to be members of Hamas, the Islamist group that claimed two recent gun attacks, although not Thursday's.

The army did not announce any arrests in relations to Thursday's attack.

Around 600,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank , including annexed east Jerusalem, which are considered illegal by the international community.</s>JERUSALEM: Israeli forces arrested 40 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank overnight during a manhunt for the perpetrator of a deadly attack, the army said on Friday (Dec 14).

The West Bank, which Israel has occupied for more than 50 years, saw the third Palestinian shooting in two months Thursday, with an attacker killing two Israeli soldiers near a Jewish settlement before fleeing the scene.

The army announced reinforcements after the attack and carried out raids in the nearby city of Ramallah, where Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is based, and other places.

"Forces apprehended 40 suspects wanted for their involvement in terror activities, popular terror and violent riots targeting civilians and security forces," an army statement said.

It said 37 of them were known to be members of Hamas, the Islamist group that claimed two recent gun attacks, although not Thursday's.

The army did not announce any arrests in relations to Thursday's attack.

Around 600,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank , including annexed east Jerusalem, which are considered illegal by the international community.</s>JERUSALEM: Israeli forces arrested 40 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank overnight during a manhunt for the perpetrator of a deadly attack, the army said on Friday (Dec 14).

The West Bank, which Israel has occupied for more than 50 years, saw the third Palestinian shooting in two months Thursday, with an attacker killing two Israeli soldiers near a Jewish settlement before fleeing the scene.

The army announced reinforcements after the attack and carried out raids in the nearby city of Ramallah, where Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is based, and other places.

"Forces apprehended 40 suspects wanted for their involvement in terror activities, popular terror and violent riots targeting civilians and security forces," an army statement said.

It said 37 of them were known to be members of Hamas, the Islamist group that claimed two recent gun attacks, although not Thursday's.

The army did not announce any arrests in relations to Thursday's attack.

Around 600,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank , including annexed east Jerusalem, which are considered illegal by the international community.</s>By AFP - Dec 14,2018 - Last updated at Dec 14,2018

A Palestinian demonstrator covers her face during confrontations with Israeli forces in Ramallah, near the housing units of Beit El, in the occupied West Bank, on Thursday (AFP photo)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — A Palestinian shot dead two Israeli soldiers at a bus stop in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Israeli forces said, sparking army raids in the city of Ramallah during which a Palestinian was killed.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ‘legalise’ thousands of housing units considered unlawfully-built even by Israel.

The attack came hours after Israeli forces killed two Palestinian murder suspects.

In total six people were killed in the most violent 24 hours to hit the West Bank and Jerusalem in months.

The Israeli forces said a Palestinian exited his car at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement in the West Bank before opening fire on soldiers and civilians.

Two soldiers were killed and at least two other people — including another soldier — were wounded, the army said, with the attacker fleeing.

“We are searching for the terrorist. We will find him,” the military said on Twitter.

Following the attack, the army raided the nearby city of Ramallah, home to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Entrances and exits to the city were sealed and the forces entered multiple neighbourhoods, AFP correspondents said.

Confrontations broke out in various spots and continued into Thursday evening.

A 60-year-old man was shot dead by Israeli soldiers, in what the army said was an attempted car ramming.

The bus stop shooting came only hours after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians allegedly responsible for West Bank attacks that claimed the lives of three Israelis, including a baby.

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel in Gaza since 2008, claimed the two Palestinians as its “fighters”.

One of them was Salah Barghouthi, a 29-year-old accused of shooting seven Israelis on Sunday, also at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement.

The Shin Bet Israeli internal security service said that other members of Barghouthi’s group, all of them affiliated with Hamas, had been arrested overnight.

A woman who was seven months pregnant was among those wounded in that attack.

Doctors tried to save her baby boy with an emergency caesarean but he died on Wednesday and was buried in Jerusalem.

The mother remains in hospital in a serious condition.

The other Palestinian killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday night had been suspected of shooting dead two Israelis in October.

Ashraf Naalwa, 23, was killed when forces tried to arrest him near Nablus in the West Bank, Israel’s Shin Bet security service said.

In another incident Thursday morning, a Palestinian stabbed two Israeli border guards in Jerusalem’s Old City before being shot dead.

The violence came amid heightened tensions in the West Bank, with a former head of Shin Bet’s intelligence and research division saying it appeared to be a “new front” opened by Gaza’s rulers Hamas.

While Abbas’ forces control Palestinian cities in the West Bank, some Hamas cells continue to operate.

Since Sunday’s attack, Israeli forces have made a series of incursions into central Ramallah, where Abbas’ Palestinian Authority is based.

Abbas himself condemned the anti-Israeli attacks but highlighted Israeli raids as a potential cause of anger.

“The climate created by the policy of repeated intrusions into the cities, the provocations against the sovereignty of the president and the lack of a horizon for peace are what led to this unacceptable series of violence that we condemn and reject,” he said.

Hebrew posters have been pasted in the West Bank over the past week inciting the killing of Abbas.

Speaking on Thursday evening, Netanyahu vowed to legalise “thousands” of housing units built without even Israeli permits.

All housing units are considered illegal under international law and are seen as a major obstacle to peace, but Israel draws a distinction between those it sanctions and those constructed without permission.

“They think they can uproot us from our land, they will not succeed,” he said in a statement.

Netanyahu also said they would seek to destroy the homes of Palestinian attackers within 48 hours.

Israel seized control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.

Around 600,000 Israelis now live in housing units there considered illegal by the international community.

Many Palestinians consider violence against Israelis in the West Bank to be a justified response to the growth of housing units on land they see as theirs.</s>SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia formally recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing decades of Middle East policy, but will not move its embassy there immediately, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday.

“Australia now recognizes West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel,” Morrison said.

“We look forward to moving our embassy to West Jerusalem when practical,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Morrison said in October he was open to shifting Australia’s embassy from Tel Aviv. President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in May delighted Israel, infuriated Palestinians and upset the wider Arab world and Western allies.

Morrison’s unexpected announcement in October was viewed cynically because it came days before a crucial by-election in an electorate with a strong Jewish representation, a poll his party subsequently lost.

It also drew criticism from Muslim-majority neighbors such as Indonesia and Malaysia, neither of whom formally recognize Israel’s right to exist. Arab countries worried that the move would unnecessarily inflame tensions in the Middle East.

Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, including the eastern sector that it annexed after the 1967 Middle East war, and wants all embassies based there. The international community believes Jerusalem’s status should be resolved through negotiation.

The status of Jerusalem, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths, is one of the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians who want East Jerusalem recognized as the capital of a Palestinian state.

Morrison said Australia would not move its embassy to West Jerusalem until the city’s final status was determined, but said trade and defense offices would be opened there.

He confirmed Australia’s support for a two-state solution with a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.

Izzat Salah Abdulhadi, head of the Palestinian Delegation to Australia, said endorsing two capitals signaled a genuine commitment to a two-state solution but said Israel would still regard Jerusalem as its “eternal and undivided capital”.

“Recognition of any part of it before serious compromises and genuine concessions have been made will be seen, at least to some extent, as rewarding this intransigence,” he said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesman, Arrmanatha Nasir, noted that Australia had not moved its embassy to Jerusalem and called on all members of the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state “based on the principle of two-state solutions”.</s>Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

SYDNEY- Australia formally recognizes west Jerusalem as Israel's capital, reversing decades of Middle East policy, but will not move its embassy there immediately, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday.



"Australia now recognizes West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel," Morrison said.





"We look forward to moving our embassy to West Jerusalem when practical," he told reporters in Sydney.Morrison said in October he was open to shifting Australia's embassy from Tel Aviv. President Donald Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in May delighted Israel, infuriated Palestinians and upset the wider Arab world and Western allies.Morrison's unexpected announcement in October was viewed cynically because it came days before a crucial by-election in an electorate with a strong Jewish representation, a poll his party subsequently lost.It also drew criticism from Muslim-majority neighbors such as Indonesia and Malaysia, neither of whom formally recognize Israel's right to exist. Arab countries worried that the move would unnecessarily inflame tensions in the Middle East.Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, including the eastern sector that it annexed after the 1967 Middle East war, and wants all embassies based there. The international community believes Jerusalem's status should be resolved through negotiation.The status of Jerusalem, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths, is one of the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians who want east Jerusalem recognized as the capital of a Palestinian state.Morrison said Australia would not move its embassy to West Jerusalem until the city's final status was determined, but said trade and defense offices would be opened there.He confirmed Australia's support for a two-state solution with a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem."What we are saying is we've got to move this forward. The rancid stalemate has to be broken," he said.

Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>></s>Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that his government will recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

However, he said Australia's embassy would not move from Tel Aviv, until a peace settlement was achieved.

He added Australia also recognised the aspirations of the Palestinians to a state with a capital in East Jerusalem.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the most contested issues between Israel and the Palestinians.

US President Donald Trump drew international criticism last year when he reversed decades of American foreign policy by recognising the ancient city as Israel's capital. The US embassy was relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May.
• Why Trump and Jerusalem was not about peace

Mr Morrison's announcement comes after a period of consultation with politicians in Australia and allies abroad.

"Australia now recognises West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel," said Mr Morrison, speaking in Sydney on Saturday.

"We look forward to moving our embassy to West Jerusalem when practical ... and after final status determination."

When the policy review was announced in October, it drew support from Israel, but criticism from the Palestinian side.

Mr Morrison's predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, had ruled out following the US in moving Australia's embassy to Jerusalem.

Two other countries - Guatemala and Paraguay - have announced they would also make the switch, but Paraguay later reversed the decision after a change of government.

Why is the status of Jerusalem so contentious?

The status of Jerusalem goes to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel regards Jerusalem as its "eternal and undivided" capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem - occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war - as the capital of a future state.

Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem has never been recognised internationally, and according to the 1993 Israel-Palestinian peace accords, the final status of Jerusalem is meant to be discussed in the latter stages of peace talks.

Since 1967, Israel has built a dozen settlements, home to about 200,000 Jews, in East Jerusalem. These are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

In December 2017, UN member states voted decisively at the General Assembly in favour of a resolution effectively declaring US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital to be "null and void" and demanding it be cancelled.</s>SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia formally recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing decades of Middle East policy, but will not move its embassy there immediately, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday.

“Australia now recognizes West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel,” Morrison said.

“We look forward to moving our embassy to West Jerusalem when practical,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Morrison said in October he was open to shifting Australia’s embassy from Tel Aviv. President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in May delighted Israel, infuriated Palestinians and upset the wider Arab world and Western allies.

Morrison’s unexpected announcement in October was viewed cynically because it came days before a crucial by-election in an electorate with a strong Jewish representation, a poll his party subsequently lost.

It also drew criticism from Muslim-majority neighbors such as Indonesia and Malaysia, neither of whom formally recognize Israel’s right to exist. Arab countries worried that the move would unnecessarily inflame tensions in the Middle East.

Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, including the eastern sector that it annexed after the 1967 Middle East war, and wants all embassies based there. The international community believes Jerusalem’s status should be resolved through negotiation.

The status of Jerusalem, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths, is one of the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians who want East Jerusalem recognized as the capital of a Palestinian state.

Morrison said Australia would not move its embassy to West Jerusalem until the city’s final status was determined, but said trade and defense offices would be opened there.

He confirmed Australia’s support for a two-state solution with a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.

“What we are saying is we’ve got to move this forward. The rancid stalemate has to be broken,” he said.</s>SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia formally recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing decades of Middle East policy, but will not move its embassy there immediately, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday.

“Australia now recognizes West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel,” Morrison said.

“We look forward to moving our embassy to West Jerusalem when practical ... and after final status determination,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Morrison said in October he was open to shifting the embassy. President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May delighted Israel, infuriated Palestinians and upset the wider Arab world and Western allies.
Australia formally recognizes West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state but will not move its embassy from Tel Aviv until a peace settlement is reached with the Palestinians.