The Turnbull government should grant diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine ahead of an historic visit by Israeli prime minister, Bob Hawke believes.
The former Labor prime minister - a long-time supporter of Israel - has criticised the Israeli parliament's decision to approve a law retrospectively legalising 4000 settler homes built on privately-owned Palestinian land.
"The least we can do now, in these most challenging of times, is to do what 137 other nations have already done - grant diplomatic recognition to the State of Palestine," Mr Hawke wrote in the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday.
