As the Israel Defense Forces continued to bomb crowded areas of Gaza City with heavy ordnance over the weekend, and bulldozers cleared roads to establish even more settlements in the West Bank, support at the United Nations for a two-state solution must have seemed something of a sick joke.

Israel is racing to ensure there is little physically left on the map to form the basis of a Palestinian state, but instead, as far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said last week, the Gaza Strip could be a " real estate bonanza ".

"Any unilateral action can be met with unilateral action," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "There will be no Palestinian state."

So, is the move for Australia, and countries including France, the UK, Canada, Portugal and New Zealand in announcing s

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