Resolution amending the National Platform (motion moved by Penny Wong and seconded by Richard Marles)
Israel and Palestine
The Special Platform Conference
- supports the recognition and right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders;
- calls on the next Labor Government to recognise Palestine as a state; and
- expects that this issue will be an important priority for the next Labor Government.
Amendment 273A which was withdrawn (moved by David Bliss and seconded by Rosemary Barker)
In taking this step, the following considerations will be among the factors that will determine when and in what circumstances recognition will take place:
- free and fair elections have occurred throughout the West Bank and Gaza, resulting in a single government that can represent the Palestinian people and commit to international agreements;
- all impediments to, and repression of, free trade unionism have been removed;
- summary executions of LGTBIQ people have been halted and their human rights guaranteed;
- the use and abuse of capital punishment, the systematic use of torture and arbitrary arrest, and the repression of political opposition, dissent and free speech by Palestinian authorities (as highlighted by the Human Rights Watch Report of October 2018) has ended;
- International Human Rights instruments and principals, such as the rights of women, have been firmly committed to;
- the right of the State of Israel to exist has been formally acknowledged and all expressions for the destruction of Israel and the extermination of Jews clearly disavowed;
- there is a firm commitment to abide by all diplomatic agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Leadership to date;
- violence as a means of achieving goals is renounced;
- the decision to recognise is agreed amongst the Quartet with consultations with the parties and our key allies;
- the recognition forms part of a negotiated settlement between the parties in the context of final status determinations; and
- the decision to recognise and the timing is not otherwise contrary to Australian national interests.
