The Palestinian Authority's State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Varsen Aghabekian, is urging the Australian government to explicitly reject President Donald Trump's proposal for the US to "own" the Gaza Strip and force the resettlement of its civilian population to other countries.
"We want to have Australia and all other countries who are for international law and who want a world order … to stand tall and say that this is not acceptable. You cannot defy international law," Dr Aghabekian told 7.30.
"We want all countries of the world, including Australia, to very clearly state … that they object to statements of displacement and the negation of Palestinian rights… we've been refugees for over seven decades we will not repeat that."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has so far declined to comment on Trump's radical proposal for the Gaza Strip, saying instead that Australia's position on a two-state solution remains unchanged.
Varsen Aghabekian is the Palestinian Authority's minister for foreign affairs and rejected Donald Trump's proposals. (Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Asked whether there was any possibility that Trump's ideas could lead to a breakthrough in the conflict, Dr Aghabekian said "creative ideas" were welcomed but not ones that involved the forced displacement of the Palestinian population.
"These people are adamant they want to stay," she said.Â
"If we want to help Gaza and we want to rebuild Gaza, then that can be done while people are in Gaza, not being displaced anywhere else."
Trump's proposal 'negates' Palestinian existence
Dr Aghabekian spoke to 7.30 from Jordan — where she was part of a high-profile delegation, which was meeting with the King of Jordan.
She said that Trump's statements about the future of Gaza were "extremely dangerous" and added that she believed Palestinians will fight any attempt to forcibly remove civilians from Gaza.
"They represent a supremacist attitude on how the world is viewed," Dr Aghabekian said.
"They're definitely unacceptable by us Palestinians … they negate our existence on our ancestral land.Â
"They deal with us as objects, and we're not objects."
She told 7.30 that Trump's comments could undermine the ceasefire.
"It might green light the Israelis to continue with whatever they are doing and to breach a ceasefire because they are receiving this big support from the United States," she said.
"We hope not, because our main priority right now is to have a sustainable ceasefire."
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conducted their meeting at the White House. (Reuters: Elizabeth Frantz)
During his press conference on Wednesday, Trump called the Gaza Strip a "demolition site" and said Palestinians were returning there because they had no alternative.
That was before he said that the US would "take over the Gaza Strip" and that proposals could turn Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East" with the "world's people" living there.
Dr Aghabekian strongly rejected any development of Gaza which doesn't include its civilian population.
"It's taking my country away from me, and that Riviera doesn't include me," she told 7.30.
"We would like Gaza to prosper and to reconstruct Gaza and be part of cities of the world but with us Palestinians in it."
She said while some civilians were exhausted by the war and may consider relocating, the pictures of Palestinians returning home since the ceasefire was evidence of their attachment to Gaza.
Palestinians have continued to return to Gaza but many have had their homes destroyed. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
"We have seen it with people marching back to what they believe to be their home …  we've seen them holding brooms, holding kettles, holding pots," Dr Aghabekian said.
"If they're holding onto the tiniest things of their belongings, will they give up their homeland? No."
Dr Aghabekian also responded to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's description of Trump as a big thinker and as someone "who is trying to leverage the best outcome" for the region.
Australian Opposition Leader Peter Dutton talks during an address to the Menzies Research Centre. (AAP: Steven Markham)
"Well, that's his perception of what President Trump is doing," she said.Â
"I don't read the options presented by President Trump as something that is palatable for us as Palestinians."
She also called on the Australian government to formally recognise a Palestinian state — something that the Albanese government is committed to but hasn't carried out.
"I would like Australia to recognise the state of Palestine. It's time that all free(dom) loving countries recognise the state."
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