The decision by the Australian Labor government this week to recognize a state of Palestine at the UN next month was not the slightest bit surprising though the media of course treated it as a big shock. Newspapers ran the story on their front pages. But while the decision by the government to recognize a state of Palestine was a long time in the making and in a sense was inevitable, the timing of the announcement is important.

Labor faces demands to accelerate its timeline to recognise Palestine as Israeli PM labels such a move ‘shameful’

It follows similar moves by the UK, France and Canada.