Ben Packham’s report (“ALP ‘recognises’ state of Palestine”, 31/3) is a welcome step towards the solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The unqualified support of Israel by the US and other English-speaking nations including Australia has been the stumbling-block to peace thus far. It is high time for this unresolved issue to receive attention and for Israel’s occupying army to be withdrawn from Palestinian lands and for Palestinians to be able to live in equality with their Israeli neighbours. The truly shameful siege on Gaza must be lifted. These moves would represent a major step towards a real “normalisation” that would promote peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Bill Mathew, Parkville, Vic
Putting aside the general principle of whether the ALP should recognise Palestine as a state, perhaps they should decide which Palestine they’d be talking about. Is it the West Bank Palestine controlled by Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah or is it the Gaza faction controlled by Hamas? Only when Palestine can sort out its geopolitical schizophrenia and start behaving like a responsible state prepared to live within defined borders and giving up on its ambitions of annihilating Israel should they be afforded any such recognition. If we’ve learnt nothing else from the admission of China into the WTO and the granting of favoured nation status, it is such privileges of international recognition, in this case of Palestine as a state, should come with caveats and timelines geared to goals and benchmarks of democracy and free and fair elections.
Jim Ball, Narrabeen, NSW
These two letters were published in The Australian.