Peter Dutton has responded to Donald Trump’s declared intent to move Palestinians out of Gaza and “own” the territory by calling him a “big thinker and a deal maker”.
After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, the US President proposed to “level” the enclave and rebuild a “riviera” under American control, suggesting neighbouring Arab countries should resettle its residents elsewhere.
Mr Trump’s officials swiftly walked back several of those pronouncements.
Mr Dutton told radio station 2GB he believed the president had a “genuine desire to see peace and stability in the region.
“Let’s be honest, what’s gone before us has failed. And people who dismiss President Trump and say that he’s not serious or whatever derogatory comments they want to make, I just think it defies the reality of the gravitas he brings to the situation,” he said.
“He’s not become the President of the United States by being anything other than shrewd, you’ve seen it in his business life, and the art of the deal is important to him, that both sides of the deal are contributing, that nobody’s ripping each other off.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not offered a view on the prospect of relocation or US possession of Gaza, telling the ABC’s News Breakfast he did not think a “running commentary” was useful since Mr Trump’s positions often changed.
“I’ve said though that I’m not going to respond to every statement, every day, that is made,” he said.
The PM pointed to the president’s about-face on imposing tariffs on his neighbours, which he agreed to pause after Canadian and Mexican leaders offered concessions and threatened retaliation.
“There’s been two different positions in the last week on Canada and on tariffs, and that points towards the need to sit back, not comment on every statement.”
Instead, he has restated Australia’s “longstanding and bipartisan support” for a two-state solution.
“The state of Israel having the right to exist and recognised by the states around it living in peace and security, and the right of Palestinians to live in their own state as well. That’s our longstanding position.”
That position was restated by the Coalition’s new foreign affairs spokesperson David Coleman on Wednesday evening.
Mr Dutton did not reference a two-state solution in his interview but endorsed the suggestion that Egypt and Jordan should “contribute to the rebuild in the region” and accept refugees from Gaza.
“He wants other countries in the region to step up and take responsibility, as he’s done with NATO and Europe asking them to spend more on their defence budgets to protect themselves instead of always relying on the United States,” Mr Dutton said.
“Jordan and Egypt … will have to in his judgement contribute to the rebuild in the region, and I don’t think they’re unreasonable expectations…
“There are many Americans in middle America as there are in middle Australia who feel ripped off by the system, who feel that, well, why are we paying as American taxpayers for peace in the Middle East or peace in Europe?
“And why are we paying more at the bowser [or for] insurance premiums or more for our mortgages because our government’s out spending our money that we’ve paid in taxes on causes around the world?”
Australian Jewish lobby calls Trump ‘loopy’
Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told ABC News Radio he was “stunned” by Mr Trump’s “bold and crazy” comments.
“This intimation [of] the permanent relocation of a large number of Palestinians and also the acquisition of the territory by America, that seemed like quite a loopy proposition to me,” he said.
“No-one favours the notion of ethnic cleansing or the permanent removal of those people, that is their home and they belong there.”
Ethnic cleansing is a term used in international law to refer to forcible removal of people from a territory with the objective of changing its demographic make-up.
While the White House has not explicitly called for forcible removal, observers have suggested that any removal could be a violation of international law.
UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese told the ABC’s Radio National Breakfast Mr Trump’s remarks were “a declaration that the Untied States intends to commit a crime of forced displacement”.
Mr Ryvchin said he believed the announcement was “designed to capture the attention and very light on actual detail,” which would be worked out “in a much more prudent and rational way behind closed doors”.
Yesterday, Liberal Senator David Sharma struck a similar note to his leader when he said it was “positive” the US President had said “he doesn’t want to see the cycle of violence repeated”.
But Senator Sharma, who is a former Australian ambassador to Israel, added Trump should be taken “seriously but [not] necessarily taken literally … We all recognise that his first position is not always where US policy ends up”.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said the announcement would amount to “a clear violation of international law” if enacted, and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils said the comments were “unacceptable and catastrophic”.
