Jerusalem defiant as Rotem summoned

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr (pictured) took the extraordinary step of summoning Israeli Ambassador to Australia Yuval Rotem to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) earlier this week following an announcement by Israel of plans to build thousands of new homes in East Jerusalem and West Bank settlements.

The proposed erection of 3000 new units, the development of the controversial E1 corridor between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, and Israel’s reported plan to withhold tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority has provoked a chorus of condemnation from the international community and prompted Britain, France, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Brazil to summon their Israeli ambassadors.

The move by Israel has been construed by many as a direct response to last week’s UN vote, which overwhelmingly granted the Palestinian territories observer status, and has sparked a wave of diplomatic protests across the globe.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Carr said Israel’s actions would “enormously complicate the prospects for resuming negotiations between the two sides”.

“I am extremely disappointed with these reported Israeli decisions,” he said. “Australia has long opposed all settlement activity.

“Such activity threatens the viability of a two-state solution without which there will never be security in Israel.”

In an exclusive op-ed in this week’s AJN, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said: “Any new settlement activity or construction at this time will be counter-productive to the peace process and would be of concern to Australia.”

But Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said Carr’s comments were “misplaced”. He said the expansion is in line with the policies negotiated between Israel and the US in 2004 and “will not take up any additional land nor reduce the viability of a future Palestinian state”.

Voicing his disappointment at Carr’s “one-sided public statements”, Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Danny Lamm added, “Settlements are not the barrier to peace. Israel dismantled all the settlements in the Gaza Strip in the pursuit of peace and it merely spurred Hamas and other groups to higher levels of aggression … The Foreign Minister should instead be insisting on the Palestinians repudiating the so-called ‘right of return’ which, of all the core issues, makes peace impossible.”

On Friday last week, at a press conference to discuss Australia’s decision to abstain on the UN vote on Palestinian observer status, Carr told The AJN “the spread of settlements will impede a two-state solution”.

“The spread of settlement activity really is something where we are obliged, as a friend of Israel, to say this is not in your interest.

“It’s making a two-state solution more difficult, all of these settlements are on land that is going to have to be ceded.”

When contacted by The AJN, a spokesperson for the Embassy of Israel said only that the meeting with DFAT officials had taken place on Tuesday and “the message that was received from DFAT will be relayed to the appropriate people in Jerusalem”.

Paul Hirschson, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told The AJN “A number of countries called in our ambassadors to express their disagreement with our decision to continue construction of the Israeli communities in the West Bank.

“We value the opinions of our friends and have an open, honest and ongoing conversation with all of them.”

However, he added, Israel still sought to “find a way to bring the Palestinians back to negotiations … despite their fundamental violation of existing agreements”.

Ashraf Khatib, spokesperson for the Palestinian negotiating team, welcomed the actions of countries such as Australia, telling The AJN: “The only way to wake the Israeli government from its drunkenness is when there is pressure.”

ADAM KAMIEN