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

As the current deputy chair of this parliament’s Friends of Palestine group, it gives me pleasure to support this private member’s motion in the federal parliament. This motion recognises the enormous cost of the current Israel-Palestine conflict, condemns violence as an obstacle to peace and notes the progress and requirements of peace initiatives in the Middle East.

It is very important that we who support the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people speak up in this place and that we send a message to Palestinians both in the occupied territories and here in Australia that we do care, that we are touched by their plight and that we will work with them and others for a better future in that most troubled part of the world. Peace can never be built on denial; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa proved that. No-one should have to deny their history. Equality between people is about acknowledging your own past and not seeing someone else’s past as a threat to your future. There is pain, humiliation and suffering on both sides; there is a right to a secure future on both sides; there are grievances on both sides that must be set aside.

This motion recognises the efforts of the quartet led road map to peace. In exchange for statehood, the road map requires the Palestinian Authority to make democratic reforms and to abandon the use of terrorism. Israel, for its part, must support and accept the emergence of a reformed Palestinian government and end settlement activity. The road map presents an entirely credible framework and plan leading towards a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, but the reality is a million light years away. The fine diplomatic language could not be further removed from what is happening on the ground.

The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has just completed her 17th visit to the region in the past two years and is pushing for an agreement by the end of this year, to coincide with the end of President George Bush’s term in January 2009. Amid strong doubts that any deal can be achieved, she admitted the talks were ‘intensive’ but said:

God willing, and with the goodwill of the parties ... we have a good chance to succeed.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said, ‘Just because we have not yet succeeded does not mean we have failed,’ but certainly reiterated that the ongoing settlement building was an ever-present spoke in the wheels of peace. Israel has nearly doubled the number of homes under construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank this year. The housing ministry had begun work on 433 new units between January and May, compared with 240 in the same period last year. More than 1,000 buildings, representing 2,600 housing units, were being built in settlements. Condoleezza Rice has criticised the settlement activity, describing it as ‘not helpful’; settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law. Recently, Israeli peace group Peace Now reported that the growth of illegal settlements is escalating.

A report released by the Israel bar has stated that widespread use of torture and intimidation, especially against Palestinians in Israeli prisons, is ongoing. Settlers in the West Bank inflict cruelty on the local Palestinian population, seemingly without reprimand. An entire network of roads is being built within Jerusalem and within the occupied territories that will keep settler traffic separate from local Arab traffic. Two populations, Israeli and Palestinian, will occupy this two-layered state simultaneously and separately, passing each other, never meeting. For some Palestinians a short 15-minute trip will turn into a one- to two-hour expedition. Israel is creating an Arab-free environment within the Arab West Bank.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel found that 50 per cent of Israelis said they would not live in the same building as Arabs and would not befriend them or have them in their homes. I am sure the same results would be achieved if you asked Arabs these questions about Israelis. There is the controversial barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank, described as a security measure by Israel and as a land grab by Palestinians: the separation wall, which does not follow the green line separating Israel from the West Bank but loops into Palestinian areas and around Israeli settlements. I ask the obvious question: how can there be a viable Palestinian state with all of these incursions into Palestinian territory?

A considerable obstacle to getting things done is the dysfunctional legislative process where governments are multiparty coalitions of mainstream and special interest groups. There are ideologues who are opposed to any concessions at any cost—for example, settler groups are gaining strength in Israel, and Hamas controls the Gaza Strip in conflict with the other Palestinian faction, Fatah.

This motion notes the involvement of Saudi Arabia in peace initiatives. I commend that involvement and urge all the Arab countries of the region to become part of a wider peace process that both lends practical and moral support to the Palestinians and advances mutual understanding and respect with Israel. I acknowledge the efforts of both the Saudis and Yemenis in helping broker both talks and agreements between Hamas and Fatah. Australia does have a role in encouraging and supporting peace initiatives.

One important thing we must make sure of is that we do not allow those in the region to fall into the habit of preferring a state of war to a state of peace. The dispossession and dislocation of 1948 and 1967 must be recognised and appreciated, as must Israel’s right to exist securely behind secure borders. Being passionately pro Palestinian and passionately pro Israel need not be mutually exclusive. Many are talking about the impossibility of a partitioned state and advocating one country. Is it impossible for the same country to be shared by both Israelis and Palestinians? You cannot have a Jewish state without forcibly removing Palestinians and you cannot have a Palestinian state without forcibly removing Jews. In fact, the British, who created the partition plan of 1947, recognised with the Peel commission in 1937 that you cannot draw a line between these two people. There needs to be a credible peace process to provide hope that all of the misery we are now experiencing is worth it in the end. For Palestinians, the one big idea of a homeland has to stay alive.

The pressure that ended apartheid, ended partition in Northern Ireland, ended the Marcos regime in the Philippines and brought down the Berlin Wall did not come from governments. It came primarily from movements within society—from the people, the schools, the churches and the homes. Maybe it is time for Palestinians and Israelis and the world community to imagine a different future and a different relationship.

It is important in this context to talk in terms of hope. I was certainly impressed when I read recently in Martin Chulov’s article in the Australian of ‘a crippled old Arab warlord’ sitting ‘reflecting on the future of his one-time sworn enemy’. He is Mohammed Ghawanmeh, interviewed by Martin Chulov. At the end of this article, this person who has dedicated his life to fighting Israel says:

All my life I dedicated towards opposing (Israel),” he says, thumbing through photographs of Islamic Jihad members, some of whom fell in battle while others remain in prison. On a wall in his living room is a yellowing black-and-white shot of Khaled Islambouli, the assassin of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, who in 1979 became the first Arab leader to make peace with Israel.

Asked why an image of Islambouli takes pride of place in Ghawanmeh’s inner sanctum, he says: “Sadat should have asked us before doing that. But that was then, it is a different reality. We still see 1948 as the Catastrophe, but they are here to stay now.

“That is a reality. It’s time for us to build our futures.”

We have just concluded the Olympics, and I would like to note that the Palestinians sent four athletes to the Olympics, two runners and two swimmers. I want to mention Hamse Abdouh, who trained at the YMCA pool in Arab East Jerusalem, an 18-metre pool. The thought of swimming in a 50-metre pool caused him panic. ‘How will I get to the end of the pool?’ were his thoughts. But he did. His best time for the 100-metre butterfly was 10 seconds off the world record, so, to put it politely, his chances of achieving a world medal were slim. But, when interviewed, he said that the idea of walking into the stadium and having people shout ‘Palestine! Palestine!’ was the real medal for him. It is sad that it is only at major sporting events like the Olympics that something called Palestine really exists today.

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