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Sea Change Down Under: Ex-Australian Foreign Minister Announces Himself a ‘Friend of Palestine’
Australia’s immediate past Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, has dramatically changed his views with respect to Israel and Palestine. In his article “Why I’m Now a Friend of Palestine” published in last Saturday’s The Weekend Australian he explains his change of heart:
“Pennant Hills Golf Club in Sydney is an unusual place for an epiphany on the changes in Israel. Still, it was there I met a Christian volunteer who went to the occupied territories to escort Palestinian children to school to protect them from verbal and physical violence by Israeli settlers. Violence against Arab Kids? Christian volunteers to protect them? From Jewish settlers? None of this was around in 1977 when I rented a room in Sydney Trades Hall and called on Bob Hawke, ACTU President, to help me launch Labor Friends of Israel. In 1977 the Israeli occupation was 10 years old. There were 25,000 settlers. It was easy to believe the Israelis were holding the West Bank only as a bargaining chip. Arabs were terrorists.
Now the occupation has lasted 47 years. There are now 500,000 settlers. Up to 60 per cent of the Israeli Cabinet is on record as opposing a two-state solution. Palestinians have been part of a peace process for 25 years. Israel has gone from secular to religious. The ultra-Orthodox and religious Zionists hold 30 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. It has gone from cosmopolitan to chauvinist, with some ministers espousing a brand of nationalism like that of France’s Le Pen or Austria’s Jorg Haider.”
Mr. Carr was Premier of New South Wales for 10 years. He was Australia’s Foreign Minister up until September 2013, when Labor lost the last federal election. He is an experienced and savvy political figure widely respected by both sides of politics. He is right in the centre of the Australian political firmament. The antithesis of a fringe player. The pro-Israel lobby has gone into overdrive to try and cut him down. Even equating him with David Irving! But Bob Carr carries too much gravitas to dismiss easily. He has strong credentials; he was, after all, the founder of Labor Friends of Israel.
Carr continues:
“Permanent occupation means Israelis get cast as Afrikaners and the world will recognize Palestine and isolate Israel. After all, the alternative would be unthinkable: to accept colonial rule with one religious and racial group enjoying the vote that the majority denied.
We have politely pitched the case for Palestinian statehood as creating security for Israel. But in view of the settlements and settler violence, I now pitch the case in terms of the rights of the Palestinian people, recognised in international law and every draft peace statement supported by the world for a quarter of a century.
Palestinians must commit to non-violent resistance, not a third intifada. They must build international support. They must engage with the righteous Jews who condemn the takeover of Zionism by the fanatics.
Forty years ago I signed up to be president of Labor Friends of Israel; I still count myself a friend of the liberals in that country but it serves the cause of a just peace better by me this week becoming a patron of Labor Friends of Palestine.”
It is heartening to see more and more people putting their heads up over the parapet. Mr. Carr is not the first but his standing means something. For the Pro-Israel Lobby to link him with holocaust deniers is laughable and demonstrates the paucity of their argument.
Needless to say, I phoned Mr. Carr’s office yesterday to express my appreciation.
John Salisbury
Mondoweiss