It's about time Australia put pressure on Israel

By Ben Saul

25 Jul 2014,

Australia's biased friendship towards Israel undermines peace and forsakes justice for Palestinians, while serving neither Australian nor Israeli interests, writes Ben Saul.

Former prime minister Gough Whitlam wrote in 1985 that while Australian governments always claimed to take a balanced approach to Israeli-Arab disputes before his own government was elected, "in practice they were thought to be favouring Israel".

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer even boasted that Australia is more pro-Israel than 99 per cent of the world. Under the Abbott Government, Australian policy has sunk to new lows in unabashedly favouring extreme, illegal, and destructive Israeli government positions.

The signs of pro-Israel bias are all around. Last month, the Attorney-General, George Brandis, refused to call East Jerusalem "occupied". The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, publicly welcomed this as a change of Australia's position. Brandis provoked a damaging diplomatic rift with Arab countries. There is a near-universal consensus that East Jerusalem is occupied under international law and does not belong to Israel.

In January, foreign minister Julie Bishop doubted the illegality of Israel's settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. Again, there is universal legal consensus that the settlements violate the Geneva Conventions. The conservative International Court of Justice said so 10 years ago.

Of the five General Assembly resolutions on Palestine adopted last year, Australia joined a handful of countries in voting against three, and abstaining from two. The resolutions were not anti-Israel, but pro-international law, which Israel persistently chooses to violate.

By encouraging or tolerating Israeli violations of international law, Australia weakens the international rule of law, undermines peace, and forsakes justice for Palestinians.

Australian policy is also biased because it routinely condemns Palestinian violence, but rarely condemns Israeli violence and illegality as stridently.

Australia is right to condemn violence against Israeli civilians and to support Israel's right to protect them. But Australia should equally condemn Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, its purported annexation of East Jerusalem, its destructive blockade and collective punishment of Gaza, and its forcible repression of Palestinian self-determination.

Australia should condemn Israel's refusal to readmit Palestinian refugees, and to provide remedies for the ethnic cleansing of Arabs - documented by Israeli historians - which accompanied the foundation of Israel in 1948.

Australia should condemn the periodic Israeli military operations which cause excessive civilian casualties, illegally destroy property, and sometimes even deliberately target civilians. We should also condemn the frequent impunity for Israeli soldiers who violate the law.

Australia should condemn terrorist and 'price tag' attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians. We should oppose the routine humiliation of Palestinians at Israeli checkpoints. We should condemn the virulent anti-Arab racism in Israeli politics and society.

A balanced Australian policy would insist that peace negotiations must respect Palestinian rights under international law, including the full return of Palestinian land. We must stop saying that the Palestinians should have accepted the peace deal offered at Camp David in 2000, when that deal did not fairly guarantee basic Palestinian legal rights.

The root cause of the Israel-Palestine conflict is the near-50-year occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel and the illegal colonisation of Palestinian land. Violence to liberate Palestine is inevitable unless Israel withdraws and complies with international law. Australian governments have failed to understand that there will never be peace unless there is justice.

To that end, there are new policy initiatives that Australia could take to pressure Israel. First, Australia should prohibit Australians from serving as foreign fighters for Israel in the occupied territories, just as Australians are prohibited from fighting with terrorist groups.

Second, Australia should prohibit all economic dealings with the Israeli government, settlements, and companies in relation to the occupied territories. This is not a call for a general boycott of Israel, but the targeting of Israeli activities violating international law.

Thirdly, Australia should urge the UN Security Council to refer alleged war crimes by Hamas and Israel to the International Criminal Court for investigation.

Fourth, Australia should attempt to sue Israel in the International Court of Justice for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law.

Finally, Australia should offer to contribute personnel to a future UN peacekeeping force to guarantee the security of borders between Israel and the Palestinian state.

Australia's biased friendship towards Israel has served neither Australian nor Israeli interests. It has alienated us from the rest of the world, including Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. It is unpopular with the Australian public, which polling shows favours a policy based on law and human rights. It fuels radicalisation against the West, when Australia is struggling to defuse terrorism.

Our friendship has also been unreciprocated. Recall that Israel forged Australian passports to assassinate an unarmed Palestinian in Dubai, endangering genuine Australian travellers.

Being a fawning friend encourages Israeli lawlessness and pushes peace further away. Even a former Israeli security chief, Yuval Diskin, wrote this month that the Israeli government's inflammatory actions are radically undermining, not aiding, Israel's security. Israel has become an outlaw state, exploiting its power over Palestinians to take and keep what it wants.

Australia should stop being an extreme, pro-Israel outcast, and join the rest of the world in being a responsible, pro-international law adult.

This is an extract of a speech given at Parliament House, Canberra, on July 16.

Ben Saul is Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney.