The Australian government has welcomed the Trump administration’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza and says it leaves the door open to a two-state solution.
The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, told ABC radio on Tuesday the plan represents hope for the region to end hostilities and see aid flow into Gaza and hostages returned.
“Our view, ultimately, is that the only way that there will be an enduring peace in the Middle East is if there are two states,” he said. “The plan, as it’s been articulated, that keeps the door open for all of that. So that’s where we see that there is hope.
“We certainly welcome this and we do thank the Americans for the efforts that they have put in here … There have been plans in the past, of course, and so, you know, we’re not there yet. But I think it does represent hope.”
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The US president, Donald Trump, announced the plan alongside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday, which states Gaza would be governed by a transitional “apolitical” committee.
That committee would be headed by Trump and include former British prime minister Tony Blair.
Asked whether the government would trust Trump to “govern” Gaza, Marles said the board would include a number of “very significant people internationally”.
Marles added the government did not want to see the annexation of Palestinian territories, in response to comments by Netanyahu that Israel would “finish the job by itself” if Hamas rejected the plan.
“Certainly what we have seen play out is a matter of real concern from the Australian government’s point of view,” Marles said. “We absolutely do not want to see an annexation of these territories.”
The opposition has also said the plan represents “hope”.
“We all want to see the war end and we always knew that the only peace that could be brokered would be brokered by the US. So there is hope today,” the Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, told Sunrise on Tuesday.
The Liberal senator and former Australian ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, told the Today show the plan was the most detailed and comprehensive agreement put forward since 7 October.
“I think it does have a good chance of success but I think the real difficulty here will be getting Hamas to agree,” he said. “ Hamas is being asked to sign its own extinction warrant here.
“I think Trump’s plan envisages a future role for the Palestinian Authority and I think that’s important. I think that’s something Australia should support. They are the legitimate political body of the Palestinian people.”
The Coalition has said it would revoke Australia’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, which the prime minister committed to at the UN general assembly earlier this month.
The plan has attracted some criticism, including from Greens who said Palestinians must “have the right to determine their own future.”
The deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, criticised the involvement of Trump and Blair in the plan and said it was not a “good faith choice” for Palestinian people.
“The US doesn’t even accept the right of Palestinians to have a state of their own, so I have no faith that this isn’t just continued occupation with different faces,” Faruqi said.
