The Victorian Labor State Conference’s recent decision to pass a motion calling for the Federal Government to recognise “Palestine” this parliamentary term is a reckless move.
The Victorian Labor State Conference’s recent decision to pass a motion calling for the Federal Government to recognise “Palestine” this parliamentary term is a reckless move.
It breaks Australia’s long standing bipartisan approach towards Israel and the Palestinians — an approach that has allowed Australia to maintain an open and cooperative relationship with Israel much to our mutual benefit and also stand for the only initiative that can improve the lot of Palestinians — a negotiated two-state solution.
In addition, recognising statehood should be treated as a serious matter in the world of international relations. There are universally accepted guidelines for making such determinations — the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States.
The Palestinian entities in the territories Israel captured from Jordan (the West Bank) and Egypt (the Gaza Strip) fall far short of meeting the above criteria.
Moreover, for an Australian government to consider unilaterally recognising Palestine, one must first ask which one? The one controlled by a crumbling Palestinian Authority in the West Bank that has in recent years left a power vacuum in northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus filled by armed gangs? Or the one in the Gaza Strip controlled by the terror group Hamas, taking turns launching indiscriminate rockets into Israel with its partner-in-war-crime, Iranian proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad?
Read the article by Ahron Shapiro in The Daily Telegraph.