By Amira Hass, Haaretz, 9 November 2008
The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Saturday his government was willing to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. The Hamas leader spoke at a meeting with 11 European parliamentarians who sailed from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip to protest Israel’s naval blockade of the territory. Haniyeh told his guests Israel rejected his initiative.
Clare Short, who served in the cabinet of former British prime minister Tony Blair, asked Haniyeh to repeat his offer. He said the Hamas government had agreed to accept a Palestinian state that followed the 1967 borders and to offer Israel a long-term hudna, or truce, if Israel recognized the Palestinians’ national rights.
Continue reading ‘Haniyeh: Hamas willing to accept Palestinian state with 1967 borders’
The following article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 11 November 2008 and outlines the decision of the Australian government to vote in favour of United Nations resolutions (along with the vast majority of the world) against the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories and calling for the application of the Geneva conventions in the Occupied Territories. During the previous right-wing government led by John Howard, Australia mimicked US positions on Middle East issues and refused to criticise the Israeli government in even the mildest of statements. JAO-Sydney welcomes the change in Australian government policy and hopes this signals a deeper and more independent position with regard to Israel-Palestine. While some members of the Jewish community in Australia (as indicated in the article below) may seek to marginalise this decision or question the motives of the government, this is not the view of JAO-Sydney, nor any person concerned with a just and peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestine problem.
Israel votes ’stem from need for peace’
by Phillip Coorey, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 November 2008
THE Government’s decision to join most of the world and vote against Israel on two United Nations resolutions was motivated by a desire to keep the peace process alive and not the need for votes for Australia’s Security Council bid.
The Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, told Parliament Australia switched positions during a vote on the weekend because it allowed the best opportunity for a two-nation solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
“This Government will do nothing to jeopardise our longstanding public policy and foreign policy commitment to a two nation state solution for the Middle East,” Mr Smith said.
Continue reading ‘A return to the centre: Australia votes with rest of the world on UN Israel motions’
