Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was privileged to be a member of the parliamentary delegation that visited Israel, Egypt and also the West Bank. The delegation was ably led by the honourable member for Canberra, Ms Ellis, and also included, as deputy leader, the honourable member for Maranoa, Mr Scott, Senator the Hon. Richard Colbeck, Senator Gavin Marshall and Senator Glenn Sterle. The delegation secretary was Ms Lyn Witheridge of the Department of the House of Representatives. As so often happens on delegations, political differences are set apart because we have been selected by the parliament to represent the parliament and Australia abroad. I would like to compliment the missions which were responsible for organising our visit: the Australian embassy in Cairo, the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv and also the representative office in Ramallah.

The program was a very full and busy program, and we were in that part of the world in the run-up to the Israeli elections. Israel and Egypt are two geographically close countries but they have quite different political systems. Through the visit to the two countries, as the delegation travelled, we were able to ascertain the challenges confronting the government and the people of Egypt, particularly given the fact that President Mubarak is not as young as he once was. It was also fascinating to be in Israel prior to the recent elections. I often believe that Israel is judged by First World standards, yet actions by some people in other countries around Israel are judged by Third World standards. The world is sometimes particularly harsh on Israel because we sometimes expect it to have higher standards than the standards of people who seek to undermine that country.

Israel is a vigorous and robust multiparty democracy. It was refreshing to be there and to talk to people. We were privileged, through the meetings that were organised, to get an insight into the likely outcome of the election, and a number of people predicted what actually happened on polling day.

We were there before Israel’s action in Gaza. It is easy to understand how a civilised nation simply cannot permit rockets to pour down from the sky onto its population, threatening life and property. Numerous people have been killed in Israel as a result of rockets, particularly those launched from the Gaza Strip, an area which is controlled by the Hamas terrorist organisation.

I believe that it really is important for discussion to take place—and I have to say that I found the work of the Peres Centre for Peace quite inspirational. It seeks to bring together Arabs and Israelis and to make sure that there can be a positive prognosis for the future, because, geography being what it is, the Arab population and the Israeli Jewish population will continue to live side by side.

There are enormous difficulties. There have been discussions in relation to the so-called barrier fence. That construction, while inconveniencing Arabs on many occasions, has been built by the Israelis as a means of reducing the incidence of suicide bombing. I have been in Israel before, and I heard some chilling stories of how suicide bombing occurs. Everyone tells us, though, that the barrier, while inconveniencing many Arabs, in fact has been successful in dramatically reducing the number of people who are murdered by suicide bombings.

We were in one town, Ashkelon, on the same day as rockets rained down from the Gaza Strip. It is very close to Gaza. We did not know at the time that that had happened. It is very difficult for people to go about their everyday lives living under the threat of rocket attack. It is unfortunate that Hamas controls the Gaza Strip. If Fatah were in charge there, as it is on the West Bank, I am sure that the difficulties we have seen in recent times would not have occurred.

I believe that Egypt has played a very constructive and worthwhile role in the Middle East. The fact that Egypt entered into diplomatic relations a very long time ago with Israel has meant that those two countries have been able to talk through their differences, and they have a relatively healthy relationship.

The problem of Palestinian refugees is ongoing, and I suppose the indoctrination of young Arabs is a major difficulty as well. We spoke to a person who was responsible for Palestinian Media Watch. The idea of this program is to monitor what is being shown to Palestinians by Palestinian media. Some of the material that is broadcast amounts to indoctrination or brainwashing and encourages young Palestinians to hate the Israelis. This is a very negative start to life, and it is unfortunate.

We visited the Dheisheh refugee camp with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and we had a briefing by Mr Thomas White, the deputy director of operations for the West Bank. We had a tour and people were certainly friendly, but I must say that as we were walking around I was quite shocked when two very small boys—they may have been five or six—who had machine guns made out of wood pretended to mow us down. What worried me was the fact that young Palestinians at that age have that degree of hatred for people from the West. Is it any wonder that a number of them, when they grow up, in fact go on to carry out some of the terrorist activities which have appalled us all?

Delegations these days work very hard, and this delegation was no exception. The report is a comprehensive report of what we achieved. My own understanding of Egypt, Israel and the West Bank has been substantially enhanced by the fact that I was privileged to represent the parliament as a member of this delegation. In particular, I would like to thank the ambassadors, Her Excellency Ms Stephanie Shwabsky in Cairo and His Excellency Mr James Larsen in Tel Aviv. Coincidentally, the ambassador’s wife, Mrs Larsen, is the daughter of a former Australian ambassador to Israel. In fact, she is living in the house that she lived in when she was a small child. The support staff from the two embassies were quite outstanding as well and it made our visit so much more worth while and productive to have people on the ground who put together a particularly good program.

I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and I hope it enhanced the already good relationships between Australia and Egypt and Australia and Israel. I would like to see more delegations to that part of the world because we as a country need to understand the challenges confronting the Middle East. It is a place where people from different ethnic origins have lived together in a hostile environment for a very long time.

Debate (on motion by Mr Hayes) adjourned.