Palestinians ‘marginalised’ by Middle East strife: ex-PM Salam Fayyad

The issues of a homeland for Palestinians and peace with Israel have been pushed aside, Salam Fayyad said during his visit to Australia.

The central issues of a homeland for Palestinians and peace with ­Israel have been “marginalised’’ by the war and chaos in the Middle East, former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad has warned during his first visit to Australia.

Dr Fayyad is an important figure in the Palestinian movement, touted as a possible successor to ageing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

He will today meet Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her ­opposition counterpart, Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, after the party’s national conference in July paved the way for a ­future ALP government to recognise a Palestinian state.

He will also address the ­National Press Club in Canberra.

Dr Fayyad would not say whether he would raise diplo­matic recognition of Palestine with Ms Bishop and, in guarded comments to The Australian, steered clear of speculation over Mr Abbas’s future, unleashed by moves to quit his post with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and shake up its executive committee. Observers of Palestinian politics are divided over whether this is a ploy to position a successor to Mr Abbas or, more likely, that the 80-year-old leader is bringing in supporters to shore up his position as boss of the PA.

Mr Abbas at the weekend called for the UN to put pressure on Israel to allow Palestinian refugees uprooted from camps and settlements in Syria to seek sanctuary in the occupied West Bank territories and Gaza.

Dr Fayyad said it was “natural” for the Palestinian leadership to try to help, as people who had been made homeless by wars with Israel dating back to 1948 had been re-traumatised in Syria when forced to flee.

“We are all for a concerted ­effort internationally,’’ he said.

But at a political level, he was concerned that the war between Israel and the Islamist Palestinian faction Hamas in Gaza last year coupled with the crisis in Syria and the rise there and in Iraq of Islamic State had marginalised the Palestinians’ struggle for a homeland.

“Greater attention needs to be paid to our issue … I believe leaving our cause unattended, as has been the case largely over the past year, is a mistake,” Dr Fayyad said.

He renewed his call for Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the militant Islamic Jihad group to be brought into the fold of the PLO even though neither has ­renounced violence or recognised Israel.

“Yes, there are significant political differences there, but I think a way must be found to include them in the framework … without the PLO having to abrogate or move away from what has been decided,” Dr Fayyad said, referring to the PLO’s position on ­accepting Israel’s right to exist and its disavowal of attacks against the Jewish state. “I think that is ­possible.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for his country to take in refugees from Syria, highlighting the inaction of Middle East states not ­directly impacted by the deepening humanitarian crisis.

While countries with contiguous borders with Syria — Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq — have taken in millions of refugees, Mr Netanyahu insisted Israel did not have the capacity to open its doors.

“Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of the refugees from Syria and Africa,’’ the Prime Minister said.

“We have already devotedly cared for approximately 1000 wounded people from the fighting in Syria and we have helped them to rehabilitate their lives.’’

But Israel was a small country lacking the “demographic and geographic depth” to offer sanctuary to refugees.

“Therefore, we must control our borders against both illegal migrants and terrorism,” Mr Netanyahu said in Jerusalem.

His comments came after the leader of Israel’s opposition ­Labour Party, Isaac Herzog, said the country should “carry out a process of absorbing refugees from Syria in addition to humanitarian efforts already being made”.

“Jews cannot sit still while hundreds of thousands of refugees are looking for a safe asylum,” Mr Herzog said.

Turkey is housing an estimated two million refugees while Lebanon — with a resident population of just four million people — has accepted 1.3 million displaced Syrians. Hundreds of thousands are living with relatives or in crowded camps in Jordan.

The decision by Germany and Austria to accept Syrian refugees who walked to the borders of the EU has put the spotlight on oil-rich Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to do more than dispense cash.