In the Media

Letter to the Editor (SMH and The Age) in response to this piece:

In relation to Maher Mughrabi’s claims about international law (“’Board of peace’ a sham solution” January 21), let’s be clear about something – the “right to armed struggle” in the context of “Palestinian rights”, is an unmistakable call for violence and terror against Israelis. One does not need to be an international law scholar to know that there is absolutely no law, treaty or convention that affords any kind of legal right to kill civilians, take hostages, or carry out terror attacks. On the contrary, international law, including the Geneva Conventions, is explicitly clear in outlawing this.

Equally so, the claim that the so-called Palestinian ‘right to return’ is codified in international law, is also rather dubious to say the least. In any case, this “return” is not a call for peace, but for undoing 78 years of history and erasing Israel’s existence even within the long-gone borders of 1948. In short, it is a demographic weapon designed to eliminate Jewish self-determination in Israel, not coexist alongside it. One cannot seriously claim to support a two-state solution while insisting on a demand that would abolish one of those states.

Arsen Ostrovsky is the Head of the Sydney Office of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council