29 Jul, 2015
Australian Opposition Party signals intent to recognise Palestine statehood
Melbourne (IINA) 28 July 2015 – The Australian Labor Party (ALP), currently in opposition, agreed Sunday on a resolution to consider recognizing a Palestinian statehood if peace talks remain deadlocked.
The resolution, put forward on Monday at the ALP’s three-day national conference held in Melbourne, stipulated that “If … there is no progress in the next round of the peace process, a future Labor government will discuss joining like-minded nations who have already recognized Palestine and announcing the conditions and timelines for the Australian recognition of a Palestinian state, with the objective of contributing to peace and security in the Middle East”.
Federal ALP frontbencher Tony Burke called on “both Israel and the Palestinians, including the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Hamas movement, to recognize the right of each other to exist”.
Burke said in his speech to the conference that the ALP has categorically acknowledged that it is unacceptable to delay the peace negotiations, which lasted more than two decades, for forever.
He stressed that ALP recognizes that any resolution will be based on 1967 borders with agreed land swaps, a timeframe to end Israeli occupation, demilitarization of Palestinian territory, agreement on a solution to Palestinian refugee issues, and resolution of the issue of Jerusalem’s final status.
The ALP conference also recognizes that settlement building by Israel in the Occupied Territories that may undermine a two-state solution is a roadblock to peace, calling on Israel to cease all such settlement expansion to support renewed negotiations toward peace.
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