Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten will raise his party’s opposition to Jewish settlements in the West Bank when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes an historic visit to Australia this week.
Mr Netanyahu will be the first sitting leader of Israel to visit Australia when he arrives on Wednesday.
Last week, former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd told the ABC Australia should follow the lead of Sweden and the Vatican in formally recognising the Palestinian state.
Israel’s controversial settlement program, and in particular a law introduced last month that retrospectively legalised about 4,000 settler homes built on Palestinian land, has faced staunch criticism from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop who expressed concern over the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank but declined to comment on the new law.
Mr Shorten said Labor’s position on peace in the Middle East was clear.
“Labor has long supported a two-state solution,” he said.
“We support the right of both Palestinians and Israelis to live within secure borders.
“I will make it clear to Mr Netanyahu that where settlement-building is an obstacle to two-state solution, it should be stopped. Full stop.
“I’ve said this in the past, and I’ll continue to argue that the radical expansion of settlements is in many cases a roadblock to the two-state solution.”
Read the full article by Matthew Doran at the ABC News.