Foreign Minister Julie Bishop released a statement on Thursday making it clear that Australia, while ineligible to vote on the United Nation's Security Council resolution demanding Israel "immediately and completely cease" all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, would most likely have not supported it.

"…In voting at the UN, the Coalition government has consistently not supported one-sided resolutions targeting Israel," she said, while urging both sides to work towards peace and "resume direct negotiations for a two-state solution as soon as possible".

Israel remains convinced the resolution, which was sponsored by four countries, including New Zealand, was orchestrated by the Obama administration. US Secretary of State, John Kerry, advised his representative to abstain from voting on the resolution, rather than veto it, and the US government has denied any involvement.

Asked if Labor supported Ms Bishop's comments distancing Australia from the US, the opposition's spokesman for finance Jim Chalmers reaffirmed Labor's commitment to a two-state solution, but said it considered the settlements "to be a barrier to the negotiations" necessary to reach that solution.

"We recognise Israel's right to exist within secure and recognised borders and we recognise the Palestinian aspirations for a state of their own," he said in Brisbane on Friday.

"…So in the future, if and when Labor is in power, we will consider any of those sorts of developments in light of that consistent and long-standing position that Labor has."

Liberal Senator Eric Abetz said the UN was "fast losing credibility" and believed President-elect Donald Trump would "deal" with the situation of the US failing to veto the motion when he assumes office next month.

"The simple fact is that one-sided resolutions out of the United Nations will not assist the problems that exist in the Middle East," he said.

"To get a true two-state solution in the Middle East, we need both sides to accept the right of the other to exist. There has to be a commitment to co-existence and until that fundamental position is achieved from the Palestinian side, then discussion of a two-state solution becomes very difficult.

"…As for New Zealand's involvement in this, I am not sure, it is for New Zealand to explain itself, but one hopes they were not trading principle for pragmatism in their bid to get Helen Clark elected to the UN general secretaryship."

But associate professor in American politics at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Brendon O'Connor labelled Ms Bishop's statement on the Israel resolution "propaganda".

"Israel is undermining the two-state solutions by expanding into widely recognised Palestinian territory," he said.

"[Ms] Bishop disagreeing with the US on Israeli settlement expansion is unprecedented/misguided. Settlement expansion undermines hope [for] peace."

In September Ms Bishop issued an invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Australia in 2017.

The two-day visit, yet to be fixed, will be the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister has made an official visit to Australia, after Mr Netanyahu cancelled a July 2014 trip just weeks before he was due to arrive.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, who has recently returned from a visit to Israel, tweeted a photo of his visit with Mr Netanyahu, calling him a "good friend of Australia".

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