The Australian government’s decision not to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel, which overturns a previous determination made by the Morrison government, is a decision in the right direction, in line with a clear consensus of the international community.
Only a handful of countries have recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, most of which are led by rightwing governments at the time. International law is clear on the matter, considering East Jerusalem an occupied territory illegally annexed by Israel.
The fact the Morrison government only recognised West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as opposed to the whole city of Jerusalem, does not make any difference in that regard.
As international law professor Ben Saul has pointed out: “Recognising only West Jerusalem as the capital was still contrary to the international legal consensus … The Morrison government’s position was also nonsensical, since Israel does not claim ‘West’ Jerusalem as its capital, but all of Jerusalem. It’s like bizarrely recognising half of London as the capital of Britain.”
While this decision is welcomed, it is hardly enough. Australia should start holding Israel accountable for its ongoing, daily violations of international law and to actively support Palestinian human rights.
As attention is now on the political implications of this decision, Jerusalem and the West Bank are burning. The past few weeks have seen a significant escalation in settler, police and military violence. Armed settlers, backed and supported by Israeli soldiers and police, are attacking Palestinians in their homes and on their land, during the olive harvest season, and the army has put many Palestinian cities and towns across the West Bank under effective siege.
In Jerusalem, entire neighbourhoods, such as Shuafat and Anata, are facing Israeli blockades, with Palestinians responding with civil disobedience, going on the streets in their thousands and striking.
Israel has been engaging in ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem since its occupation in 1967. Following the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem, Israel has extended a residence status to the Palestinian Jerusalemites who lived there. This residence status, however, gives no stability nor security, and does not protect Palestinians from being expelled, temporarily or permanently, from their own native city.
Under Israeli law, the minister of interior can revoke the residence status of Palestinians, and since 1967 more than 15,000 residencies have been revoked. This is part of Israel’s policy to Judaise and empty the city from its Palestinian inhabitants.
The Old City and entire neighbourhoods in Jerusalem such as Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and Jabal Al-Mukaber are facing ethnic cleansing policies, with hundreds of families facing the threat of expulsion. Palestinian houses are being taken over by the state under laws that only enable Jewish people to claim ownership over property owned prior to 1948 by Jews, while Palestinians are forbidden from making claims to properties they owned before 1948.
The international human rights community agrees that Israel is practising the crime of apartheid against Palestinians. Recent reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the former and current United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories, as well as Palestinian and Israeli NGOs conclude that Israel has put in place a system of racial domination, with an “intent to oppress and dominate Palestinians”.
Israeli apartheid, the UN Special Rapporteur on the oPt, Francesca Albanese, determined just a few days ago in her new report, “is the hallmark of settler-colonialism, and a war crime under the Rome Statute”.
The question of the status of Jerusalem has nothing to do with Jewish history in Jerusalem. No one denies that Jews have a history in Jerusalem. Christians and Muslims also have a history in Jerusalem. Jewish history in Jerusalem cannot and should not be used as a reason to justify the colonisation and displacement of Palestinians. Palestinians in the city have a long and documented history.
They are part and parcel of the city and are entitled for protection.
It is time that Australia follows the international human rights community recognition of Israel as an apartheid regime and use its power to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against humanity, including, as Rawan Arraf has pointed out, by “rescinding its objection to an international criminal court investigation into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
Symbolic gestures, important as they may be, should not be the last word. More concrete actions that can help ensure that international standers of human rights and international law are upheld.
Lana Tatour is a lecturer in global development at the University of New South Wales
