Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, has ruled out any relocation of Australia's embassy in occupied Palestine. She said “There was no chance the government would adopt it (embassy relocation) as policy,” various media outlets reported on Saturday.
Her remarks came despite huge support from her Liberal Party’s youth arm for the embassy’s relocation.
The Young Liberal Movement tabled a non-binding motion on the move. It also called for the country to freeze aid to the Palestinian Authority “until it terminates its Martyr’s fund".
The Jordan-based fund is also known as the Palestinian National Fund. It is the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) umbrella group’s main financial body.
The United States recognized al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” and announced the embassy move late last year. It relocated the diplomatic mission in May in a ceremony, which coincided with the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day, in which more than 700,000 Palestinians were evicted from their homes upon the 1948 creation of Israel on Palestinian land.
The move flies in the face of Palestinians’ demand that East al-Quds serve as the capital of their future state.
Scores of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli forces in Gaza since March 30, when they began protests for their right to return to their homelands in the occupied territories.
