THE issue of Palestine has split the South Australian Parliament with the Upper House failing to adopt the same pro-active stance taken by the House of Assembly in June.
A motion put by Greens MP Tammy Franks that the Australian Government should recognise Palestine as a state failed to pass last week, while Andrew Mclachlan’s amended motion was carried. This was a do nothing motion.
Although the Upper House motion is not in agreement with the one passed in the House of Assembly, it does not reverse the earlier decision.
The House of Assembly motion still stands with its call for recognition now by the Australian Government of the state of Palestine for the sake of peace.
The new motion effectively supports business as usual for Israel and its fifty year occupation of the Palestinian territories. It only supports recognition at the end of negotiations; at the end of a currently non-existent peace process.
Read the article by Mike Khizam in The Advertiser.
[Mike Khizam is Executive Officer of the Australian Friends of Palestine Association.]