Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about a matter raised by one of my constituents, David Forde. David Forde is a real community activist. He is a member of the Lions Club, Amnesty International, the RSL and a lot of other clubs. The report he brought to my attention is put out by the Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad, known as APHEDA. The report involved 14 people going to the Middle East in March 2010, including Evan Moorhead, the state member for Waterford, just to the south of me, and Wendy Turner, who I also know well. This report came as a result of the tour visiting Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and, more importantly, the occupied Palestinian territories—the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

I rise to speak about this report also in the context of a very recent news report brought to my attention about up to 16 people being killed and more than 30 people injured when troops stormed the freedom flotilla that was making its way towards Gaza early on Monday, according to the Israeli army radio. This event was obviously staged to bring attention to what has been going on in Gaza, as sometimes occurs when people are under pressure—maybe like standing in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square—an event which unfortunately resulted in 16 people being killed and more than 30 people being injured.

Back to this APHEDA report: the group toured a lot of the Palestinian areas I just mentioned, particularly the West Bank and East Jerusalem. As many people would know, since 2002, there has been a 700-kilometre long, nine-metre high wall, in some parts fortified and electrified, being constructed throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This is obviously not a situation which is going to result in a harmonious community. Certainly the people from APHEDA who toured this area talked about the experience of Palestinians trying to go from one part of Palestine to another and having to go down a road which is an Israeli-only road. They talked about how even people in the delegation who had a name which might have been Palestinian were particularly singled out, even if they had Australian passports. They were singled out simply because their name sounded Palestinian.

One part of the report states that the group witnessed the Palestinian town of Qalqilya, which is almost entirely enclosed by the barrier, with the only entry and exit point controlled by the Israeli military. Very often, as reported to the group, this access point was closed and they witnessed the sheer poverty imposed on the people of the town through economic starvation. This is obviously a major concern. (Time expired)