Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

Today the parliament passed a motion honouring Israel’s 60 years. My purpose tonight is not to diminish the achievements of the state of Israel but to note the interests and legitimate aspirations of the people of Palestine. Israel has many friends in this country and in this parliament; the Palestinians, by comparison, have few. Theirs is not a popular cause. But it is one I support, in part out of knowledge that the victors in World War II, including Australia, wrote a ‘homeland’ cheque to cover the sins of the holocaust and centuries of anti-Semitism in Europe, but it was the Palestinians who had to cash it.

Israel has much to celebrate after 60 years. It has built a modern, accomplished and intelligent society on the shores of the Mediterranean, one whose scientific and technological expertise offers a great deal to the world. It has a robust democracy, a free press, a secular state with freedom of faith and an unfettered opposition—regrettably rare in the Middle East. If there were peace between Israelis and Palestinians, one can only imagine the achievements of these two cultures today.

Israel’s 40-year occupation of the Palestinian territories, its continued expansion of settlements and its refusal to allow the return of expelled refugees have caused deep resentment in the Arab world. Palestinian corruption in government and failure to abandon violence against civilians as a political tool have meant that Israel does not feel secure behind secure borders. Sixty years have seen a great deal of bloodshed, Arab and Israeli and others, including 34 US soldiers killed by Israeli forces on the USS Liberty during the 1967 war. I do not find it helpful to engage in a forensic apportionment of blame—each side has legitimate grievances.

The current blockade of Gaza, confiscation of Palestinian land and the expansion of settlements must be mentioned in the context of today’s motion. Gaza is besieged, contained and on the brink of starvation. Rockets are fired into Israel every day and Israel has a right to self-defence. But the crushing economic embargo feeds fury and resentment both in Gaza and the West Bank. Two thousand six hundred and seventy-nine Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip since September 2000. An Israeli human rights organisation reported that 1,259 of those were not participating in hostilities when they were killed and 567 were minors.

On her most recent trip to the region Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reminded Israel that it needs to be very cognisant of the effects of its operations on innocent people. International law only allows the seizure of occupied territory for military needs. According to a report in Israel’s newspaper Haaretz, more than one-third of West Bank settlements have been built on private Palestinian land.

We ought not to be naive or simplistic about the challenge faced by the Israelis in moving towards peace with a counterparty, in Hamas, that is funded and supported by a foreign power and which retains an explicit commitment to the use of terror as a political instrument. But may I remind the House of the example of the Northern Ireland peace process, which showed how a liberal democratic government entered into peace negotiations with a terrorist group. The Provisional IRA was neutralised after a more than 40-year struggle.

There are signs that the Israeli people are developing a renewed hunger for peace. A recent Tel Aviv University poll indicates 64 per cent of Israelis believe the government must hold direct talks with the Hamas government in Gaza, towards a ceasefire. Military occupation, blockades and hostility against civilians in the name of security will result in violence and breed terror. We must think about what we can do to improve the lives of ordinary Israelis and Palestinians to give them some faith in the peace process. This is seriously under threat—again—with further attacks by Palestinian rockets into Israel and with Israel’s recent announcement that it will expand more settlements, referred to by the Palestinian chief negotiator as ‘a stick in the wheels of peace’.

The ‘road map’ for peace established in 2003 by the Mideast quartet is still referred to, by both sides, as a blueprint for a two-state solution. The road map calls for Palestinians to denounce violence and dismantle militant groups and for Israel to halt settlement activity in the West Bank.

We are the leaders of our generation and we are accountable for results. If the principal protagonists, and the rest of the world community, hand Palestine on to the next generation as a twisted mess of grievance, hatred and retribution, then we have failed. The last two generations of leaders have failed to produce peace. Our job is to improve the opportunities and quality of life of those within our sphere of influence and control. That mission cannot be fulfilled without peace. Let us renew our efforts.

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