“AIJAC very much welcomes Australia’s vote against the proposed Jordanian-sponsored UN Security Council resolution last week because that proposal was a clear step backward for the the long-standing bipartisan Australian policy goal of a negotiated two-state Israeli-Palestinian peace. This completely one-sided resolution reflected the Palestinian preference for confrontation and further conflict, rather than returning to direct negotiations with Israel in a spirit of reconciliation – a result of the sad reality that the Palestinian leadership apparently remains either unwilling or unable to accept a sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza if doing so would require entering into a genuine peace agreement with Israel and making the compromises necessary to end the conflict. The genuine peace both peoples undoubtedly need can only be achieved by direct negotiations, as the Australian government wisely recognised both in this vote and in other recent Mideast interventions.”
Mark Leibler, AC, AIJAC National Chairman
Dr. Colin Rubenstein, AM, Executive Director
