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It Takes Two Sides to Create Lasting Peace

(Sydney Morning Herald-Australia) Michal Biran - Last month I went on a mission to Australia to deepen the ongoing dialogue between the Israeli Labor Party and its sister Social Democratic Party, the Australian Labor Party. Australian Labor expresses strong support for Israel and maintains close ties with it. However, there are voices criticizing Israeli policy. Since the Oslo Accords, almost 25 years ago, Israel has consistently expressed its willingness to accept territorial compromise and the division of the land. The Palestinian leadership repeatedly rejected Israel's proposals - including Barak and Olmert's unprecedentedly compromising ones - as a basis for negotiations. Israel has even proved its sincere intentions by withdrawing from Gaza, at the price of evacuating thousands of settlers from their homes. The people of Gaza reacted by electing Hamas, an extremist Islamic terror organization openly devoted to the destruction of Israel. Australian aid money that is transferred to the Palestinians continues unwittingly to finance payments that the Palestinian leadership transfers to families of "martyrs" in correlation to the number of people murdered by each "martyr." We need our friends in the world, of whom the Australian people are among the best, to back us up and support our efforts to advance a political settlement based on mutual willingness to compromise. The writer is a Member of the Knesset for the Israeli Labor Party (now called Zionist Union).
2017-07-28 00:00:00
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