Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian government is gravely concerned by the escalating crisis in the Middle East. We deeply regret the loss of life and injuries to civilians on both sides. We condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from Gaza. These attacks must end. We recognise that Israel has the right to defend itself. We do, however, urge both sides to do all they can to resolve the current crisis peacefully.

Over the weekend there has been extensive diplomatic activity across the globe in an effort to calm the situation. Egypt in particular is playing a crucial role. Egypt wields significant influence in the region and has successfully brokered ceasefires between Hamas and Israel in the past. Today I met Egypt's ambassador to Australia, Dr El-Laithy. I conveyed to him Australia's full support for Egypt's efforts to broker a ceasefire. We acknowledge the visit to Gaza on November 16 by Egyptian Prime Minister Kandil and strongly support his call for a truce. We welcome the endorsement by the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, of Egypt's efforts to end the current crisis. UN Secretary-General Ban will visit Egypt for talks with President Morsi, possibly as early as tomorrow. The UN Security Council met over the weekend in a closed-door emergency meeting and will likely meet again over the coming days. Arab League foreign ministers met in an emergency meeting in Cairo on November 17. The league plans to send a delegation to Gaza tomorrow and we encourage it to focus efforts on de-escalating this conflict. What I am saying accords with many comments from Australia's friends around the world. The British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, for example, alerted us to the danger were this to escalate further and ‘stressed to our Israeli counterparts that a ground invasion of Gaza would lose Israel a lot of the international support and sympathy’— (Time expired)