[Source: AAP Image/Morgan Hancock]

Australia was on the verge of supporting an international call for Israel to withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories but pulled the pin after the push went too far.

Australia abstained from a non-binding United Nations vote demanding Israel end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months and called for an immediate military withdrawal.

The Palestinian-drafted resolution passed overwhelmingly with 124 votes in favour including New Zealand, 43 abstentions and 14 against including the United States and Israel.

Australia wanted to support a watered-down resolution that more closely reflected the ruling of a top international court but common ground couldn’t be found, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements were illegal and should end “as rapidly as possible”.

The UN resolution included clauses that went beyond the advisory opinion and made demands about a state’s legal obligations to counter Israeli policy and matters that have historically been seen as part of peace negotiations.

While Australia couldn’t support the resolution in that form, the Albanese government still backed Palestinian determination, Senator Wong said.

“Therefore, we were not going to vote against and, like the United Kingdom and Canada, we sought to abstain and make clear our views,” she told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

Australia supported the ruling that occupation was illegal, settlements needed to stop and extremist settlers needed to be held accountable which was why the abstention came with “great disappointment”, UN envoy James Larsen said.

Palestine’s envoy to Australia Izzat Abdulhadi said he thought the updated motion reflected concerns from some states, including expanding the timeline from six months to 12, and was more compatible with the advisory opinion.

“We wanted more countries to support this resolution because supporting it means supporting the ICJ advisory opinion,” he told AAP.

It was important not to water it down too much and undermine the aims of the opinion, which included repercussions for Israel breaking international law, so the ruling didn’t become “just an intellectual exercise”, Mr Abdulhadi said.

While he would have liked Australia to support the motion, he noted it didn’t vote against it and had taken previous steps to support Palestine including voting for greater UN participation, a ceasefire and recognition as part of a peace process.

“Australia has shown … support for the Palestinian people and we appreciate this,” he said.

The vote reflects growing discontent within the international community at the sustained war in Gaza which has killed tens of thousands of people after Israel launched a counteroffensive following an attack from Hamas on October 7, 2023.

The designated terror group killed some 1200 civilians in Israel and took more than 200 people hostage, many of whom remain imprisoned 11 months later.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham decried the “one-sided motion” for not condemning the October 7 attack, Hamas’ atrocities or the remaining hostages – an argument echoed by the Zionist Federation of Australia.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry argued Israel couldn’t give up “territories it captured in the course of defending itself” without a legally binding peace treaty.

The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network wanted the Albanese government to go the other way, saying not supporting the motion undermined the rights of displaced Palestinians to return.