Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition strongly supports this motion. Today both sides of Australian politics are joining to voice their support for the release of three young Israelis who have spent over a year as hostages. The core of the issue is the human tragedy that this hostage taking has caused. We also recognise here today Ehud’s father, Shlomo Goldwasser, as representing the three pairs of parents who are anxiously awaiting news of their sons and hoping for their return. To him I would like to convey the deepest sympathies and concern of the Australian people. We also send our best wishes for the health of his son and the other two boys, as well as our hopes for their speedy release.

All three detainees were abducted on Israeli territory. The abductions violated international law; the laws of war prohibit the taking of hostages. International law requires conflicting parties to release detainees as soon as the reason for their detention ceases. It has never been lawful to take hostages, and any reason based on that motive is invalid. Those who took the hostages are also in violation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers. It is now incumbent on the international community to take such steps as are necessary to enforce that resolution.

All three soldiers were reportedly injured during their capture, but their captors have unreasonably refused access by the Red Crescent and the Red Cross to determine their health, offer them humanitarian assistance and enable them to communicate with their families. These rights and obligations are enshrined in the laws of war, which have an ancient tradition. They have been the creed of warriors throughout centuries. To demean those laws and principles demeans the captors, who fail to recognise basic human decency. These people are not warriors; they are condemned by their own actions as common criminals.

Tragically, both of the kidnappings occurred when there was optimism in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Sharon had taken the decision to withdraw from all settlements in the Gaza Strip, and his new Kadima Party had also begun to reduce the number of settlements in the West Bank. The actions of the kidnappers have damaged progress towards peace. They have not acted in furtherance of their own people’s rights; they have damaged them. A return of the hostages would be a vital confidence-building step for the impending international peace conference, which includes Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The bottom line is that failure to release the hostages against international pressure raises questions of third-party intervention, but the captors should have the courage to turn their back on those third-party instructions. They should act in the interests of their own people. If they fail to do so against world pressure, the world is entitled to ask what benefits have been promised to them for failing to do so.

It is my sincere hope that this resolution, along with the many other voices of support from around the world, will convince the captors that they must release their captives in order to rejoin the international community. A failure to do so will reinforce the conclusion that they are not responsible representatives of their people, that they are not acting as warriors pursuing a noble goal, that they are merely common criminals who have engaged in illegal conduct and they are, by their own actions, defined as a criminal group—indeed, terrorists—intent on operating outside the universally accepted standards of humanity. These standards have been developed not in the last decades but over centuries as principles of basic human decency that have been offered by warriors and combatants throughout the ages. On behalf of the Australian Labor Party I call for the immediate release of all three hostages to end the pain of their families and to begin healing the many wounds of this very troubled region.

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