By George Browning
AUSTRALIA concluded its two-year term on the UN Security Council on December 31, 2014.
“In her end-of-term report on Australia’s achievements on the council, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s press release on Wednesday rightly noted a range of achievements intended to strengthen international co-operation through multilateral action.
However, she curiously failed to mention Australia’s decision to oppose the resolution brought to the council by Jordan seeking to provide a negotiating timetable for the resolution of the Palestinian question within the framework of numerous UN decisions.
There is no issue more deeply embedded in the UN and other agencies intended to advance the peaceful resolution of disputes and humanitarian standards of conduct in international affairs than the question of Palestine.
This was recognised by Australia as early as 1947 and has been pursued at a practical level by our troops’ participation in virtually all the peacekeeping forces deployed to the area since that time.
Yet while proudly listing Australia’s achievements on the Security Council, the peaceful resolution of the Palestinian question received no mention in Bishop’s remarks.”