Labor troika fails to see the roadblocks in Palestine

That would reward a Palestinian leadership that has three times walked away from Israeli peace offers on borders, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem, and encourage it to keep dodging direct negotiations with the Israelis.

Former US president Bill Clinton described the opportunity missed by the Palestinians during the US-brokered peace talks in 2000 and 2001 in the following terms: “(Yasser) Arafat’s rejection of my proposal after (Ehud) Barak accepted it was an error of historic proportions.” The Israelis and Palestinians issued a joint statement saying: “The sides declare they have never been closer to reaching an agreement and it is thus our shared belief that the remaining gaps could be bridged with the resumption of negotiations.”

Labor supports the right of Israel to live in peace with secure borders with international recognition. It also supports the aspiration for a Palestinian state to exist in peace and security. It believes this can be accomplished through mutual recognition and via an agreement directly negotiated between the parties.

The ALP national platform on Palestine, adopted in 2015, commits Labor to the following:

“If however there is no progress in the next round of the peace process, a future Labor government will discuss joining like-minded nations who have already recognised Palestine and announ­cing conditions and time lines for the Australian recognition of a Palestinian state, with the objective of contributing to peace and security in the Middle East.”

Unfortunately even in the peace talks in 2014, according to US mediator Martin Indyk, Benjamin Netanyahu was “sweating bullets” for an agreement, but Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas just walked away.

Labor and Coalition governments have long supported a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict.

Read the article by Michael Danby MP in The Australian (subscription required).