Labor is facing calls for the recognition of Palestine to become a priority for the government, with a commitment to statehood already in the party’s policy platform.
No timeline has been attached to implement the policy, with some pro-Palestinian Labor delegates pushing to have it expedited.
But pro-Israel elements of the party threatened to try and strip the policy from the platform if the other side attempted to alter it at the national conference in Brisbane.
No amendments were moved and the same wording remains in the policy platform with no timeline attached.
Labor MP Susan Templeman spoke in favour of recognition at Labor’s national conference on Friday, saying the actions of Israel’s extreme right-wing government were “deeply concerning”.
“The extreme right-wing policies of the Netanyahu government that speed up the expansion of settlements are a serious impediment to the two-state solution that we are all committed to,” she told Labor’s national conference on Friday.
She said she supported “the call our platform makes for the recognition of Palestine as an issue of priority” as Palestinians suffered inequality at the hands of Israeli settlements.
Trade unionist Michael Easson said good people could disagree on the issue and called for a nuanced approach to an age-old conflict.