NSW Labor’s statehood call
The resolution was the result of negotiations across Labor factions, including the LIAC.
Last weekend’s NSW Labor conference resolution on recognising a Palestinian state was in line with the party’s last national conference, Labor Israel Action Committee (LIAC) secretary Byron Danby said.
As ostensibly pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside the Sydney Town Hall on Saturday, a motion passed that “calls on the Australian government to do what it can to accelerate and support the peace process including the recognition of Palestine as a priority”.
The resolution was the result of negotiations across Labor factions, including the LIAC.
“The conference rejected a number of extremist resolutions and instead echoed the position put forward by the federal Labor government,” Danby said.
“Members of LIAC engaged in a dialogue with party officials and members of the federal and state Labor parliamentary team, and thanked them for their efforts to work together constructively.”
LIAC also welcomed a passage that “the government remains unequivocal in its condemnation of Hamas’s abhorrent terror and missile attacks on October 7, 2023, breaking a ceasefire, and continues to call for the immediate and unequivocal release of hostages”.
But while the LIAC seemed satisfied with the outcome, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin took a different view. “It is disappointing to see another Labor conference pursuing the doomed policy of recognising a Palestinian state that does not exist in fact or in law, and which, if it was created now, would be a failed state from the beginning,” he said.
“The only way to improve the lives of Palestinians and Israelis and to end this conflict is by supporting the building of peaceful, democratic institutions in the Palestinian Territories to create a society that no longer undermines global stability and plots and enacts horrific attacks in the name of the Palestinian cause.
“Recognising a Palestinian state given the violence, corruption and authoritarianism of current Palestinian governance is neither good policy nor is it in our national interest.”
Speaking at the conference, Labor veteran and LIAC member Michael Easson said that while the resolution was a compromise, “The words are rooted in principles, Labor values.
“There cannot be justice and peace if that means the rights of one people comes at the expense of another. Arab Palestinians and Jews expelled from the land long ago have indigenous claims to the land,” he said.
“We call for the release of the hostages. We call for a ceasefire now. We ask our government to contribute to the peace process and the recognition of Palestine as a priority.”
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip thanked NSW Labor for “holding the line”.
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