Recognise Palestine, Hawke tells Turnbull

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.