Labor troika fails to see the roadblocks in Palestine

Fairfax assembled a cast of old predictables — Bob Carr, Gareth Evans and even Bob Hawke — to sound the siren call that Australia should unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state.

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.

Hawke’s analysis of the conflict included a surprising throwaway that the Palestinians are the “indigenous” people of the Holy Land.

How could anyone, let alone a former prime minister, ignore the plethora of historical documents and archeological artefacts that attest to the unbroken chain of Hebrew, Israelite and Jewish language, culture, religion and civilisation in the Holy Land over the past 3250 years? Our common Judeo-Christian heritage attests to thousands of years of Jewish ties to the Holy Land. Judaism predates Islam by more than 2000 years, especially in geographic areas that now comprise Israel and the West Bank.

Australians and the Labor Party must not view Israel through the prism of one stupid, recent law retroactively legalising “adverse possession”, a law that may well be overturned by Israel’s High Court.

If we are to fetishise about settlements we should equally praise the Israelis for the 3000 Israeli police who dismantled the illegal Jewish outpost of Amona just last week.

Labor notables who insist we only view the Middle East through the distorted prism of settlements discount the strong Australia-­Israel relationship. Trade between Israel and Australia amounts to $1.2 billion. Bilateral dealings in fields of aid and development also include ongoing hi-tech, scientific and medical research. Our security relationship also helps to preserve the safety of everyday Australians from crazies such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic State — groups that are classified by the Australian parliament as terrorist organisations.

Israel is a creative bastion, perhaps the epicentre of the world’s technological revolution. In Tel Aviv, 150,000 gay people can peacefully parade.

Equally the same number can light the Christmas trees in Bethlehem or Jaffa, where the only growing population of Christians in the Middle East lives without fear or discrimination. Surely our three wise men understand this context?

Israel is an island of freedom in a Middle East beset by war, genocide, economic failure and ugly sexual violence. As former US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said in explaining the US’s abstention in the Security Council on the resolution Hawke mentions — “even if every single settlement were to be dismantled tomorrow, peace still would not be attainable without both sides ­acknowledging uncomfortable truths and making difficult choices”. No serious statesman can ignore the regional morass in which this tiny, peaceful, tolerant, technological country lives.

If you were an Israeli who would have to live in peace with your Palestinian neighbours, would you risk another Hamas takeover in the West Bank to please Carr or Evans or the goody-two-shoes New Zealanders?

Recognising the myopic state of Palestine will do nothing to encourage the Palestinians whose adamant continuing refusal to negotiate directly with their Israeli counterparts is the key blockage to peace.

Being rude to the first sitting Israeli prime minster to visit Australia will not serve Australia’s interests.

Sincere engagement with the Israelis will be taken seriously — and that is what mainstream Labor should advocate.

Michael Danby is the federal member for Melbourne Ports.