The Palestinian foreign ministry on Sunday summoned Australia’s diplomatic representative after a top judicial official said Canberra would no longer refer to annexed east Jerusalem as “occupied.”
Last week, Australian Attorney General George Brandis sparked Palestinian fury by saying Canberra would not use such “judgemental language” to describe an area which was the subject of negotiations.
“The Palestinian foreign ministry summoned Australian representative Thomas Wilson over the recent comments by the Australian attorney general asking to stop referring to east Jerusalem as occupied territories,” a ministry statement said.
Speaking to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, foreign minister al-Malki said he was “worried” about the remarks which contravened the position of the international community.
He demanded that Canberra “give an official clarification of its position on east Jerusalem in the next few days.”
