Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Fadden for his question. I think all members of the House acknowledge his interest in and experience and professionalism of issues of foreign affairs. Obviously, the government is deeply concerned about the loss of life in the Middle East since the fighting began on 13 July. With that in mind, we welcome the United Nations Security Council’s consideration of a draft resolution which has been drawn up, in particular, by France and the United States and which was brought forward on Sunday. I hope that this will be voted on soon.

This resolution calls for a full cessation of hostilities—that is, for Hezbollah, a terrorist organisation, to stop all attacks and in that circumstance for Israel to stop offensive operations and for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire based on a set of principles, including strict respect by all parties for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both countries, and full implementation of resolutions requiring the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon. As I said, I hope this resolution can be agreed on quickly and pave the way for a cessation of hostilities and for a second resolution which would mandate an international stabilisation force under chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. But let me make the Australian government’s position perfectly clear on this. We are not interested in seeing some kind of temporary solution—or bandaid solution—which several months or a year down the track is going to fall apart and when there will simply be a resumption of hostilities and more people will be killed. Now, out of this crisis, there is the opportunity to achieve a sustainable peace built around a quite simple and obvious proposition: that there must be a two-state solution to this problem.

Israel must be guaranteed by all parties its right to exist within secure borders and there must be the establishment of a Palestinian state. It is important that people understand that the problem here is that, while most countries in the world agree with that, there are some countries that do not. Amongst those countries that do not support the two-state solution are Iran and Syria. They are funding, supporting, aiding and abetting terrorist organisations Hezbollah and Hamas. They are supporting those organisations, which equally do not support Israel’s right to exist.

Some people say that Israel should negotiate with Hezbollah and Hamas or Iran and Syria. Those countries and those organisations do not believe Israel has a right to exist. The only thing Israel has to negotiate with those countries and those organisations is its own country. They have nothing else to offer, because those countries and those organisations want to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth, to use the words of President Ahmadinejad of Iran.

We completely reject that. It is not that we are somehow biased or play to domestic constituencies, or anything like that. It is simply that Israel has a right to exist, and so does a Palestinian state have a right to come into existence. That is the only solution here. For those who think that they can solve the problem of the Middle East by trying to destroy Israel, the simple answer is that they will not. All they will do is cause war. That is all they will do. Some people on the other side may mock, as the member for Sydney does, but my view is that all those people will do is cause war. I have made it perfectly clear—

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