Australians react to Netanyahu’s speech
 
AHRON SHAPIRO
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd’s Government has welcomed the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s support for an independent Palestinian state.¬†Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said on Monday that Netanyahu’s speech meant there was now a starting point for peace.
“What Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech reflects today is [that] there is now a basis for a peace process for negotiations to commence,” he told the ABC.¬†”We welcome the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu has, for the first occasion, indicated that peace in the Middle East has to be based on a two-state solution.”
A spokesman from Smith’s office said that while the ministry was still studying the detail of Netanyahu’s speech, “Australia also believes that the final characteristics of these states [should not be pre-conditional and] need to be addressed in negotiations.”¬†The Jewish community expressed support for Netanyahu, while acknowledging the complexity of the issues and the long road ahead.
 
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council
“AIJAC welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statement clarifying Israeli’s approach to peace and hopes it will be a step toward renewed negotiations with the Palestinians.¬†We view his statement as very much within the Israeli consensus, stressing both that Israelis support a two-state resolution, but that Israel also has needs from the peace process in the form of both security guarantees and genuine recognition of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State.”¬†
Dr Colin Rubenstein, executive director.
 
Executive Council of Australian Jewry
“I thought it was a very important statement of principle. It put Israel’s position in the correct historical context. In that respect, it rectified the impression created by President Obama in Cairo that the creation of the State was a function of the Holocaust. And importantly, it sets in clear terms the parameters of the two-state solution and the requirement for Israeli settlements to accommodate natural growth in their existing land footprint.”
Robert Goot, president
 
Zionist Council of Victoria
“Netanyahu’s statement, which is welcomed by the Zionist Council of Victoria, is both fair and balanced. Prime Minister Netanyahu clearly wants a two state solution that really works to bring peace and stability. [The connection of the] Jewish people to the land is religious, historical and continuing since time immemorial.”
Sam Salcman, acting president
 
Australian Jewish Democratic Society
“We feel that Netanyahu’s speech in response to [Obama’s speech] is a grudging admission that Israel needs to change. Nonetheless, it’s a welcome one that Netanyahu realises the reality of the changed US government and the influence it has in the region.
But we feel that he could have been more explicit about the intentions regarding the settlements … We’ll wait and see what develops further.¬†We are encouraged by the fact that he has uttered the formerly suppressed statement about Palestinian statehood. We feel that is a forward development.”
Les Rosenblatt, spokesperson
 
Australian Friends of Palestine
“[Netanyahu’s] acceptance of a Palestinian state was immediately undermined by his repeating the same positions he has held before, which were unacceptable.¬†His views on Jerusalem, the Palestinian right of return, compensation and the settlements – in addition to his demand for a Palestinian state, which is not in control of its own defence, borders and airspace – were all unacceptable.”
Paul Heywood-Smith, chairperson