Palestinian Authority Urges Australia to Restore 'Balance' to Mideast Policy
PA Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki currently paying first visit to Australia; welcomes signs that opposition Labor Party may support Palestinian state.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki, currently on his first-ever visit to Australia, has urged the government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott to restore "balance" to its voting positions on Israel and Palestine at the United Nations, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Friday.
During a meeting in Sydney on Thursday, Malki also asked Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to include the Palestinian Authority on her next official trip to the Middle East.
The PA is alarmed by the Abbott government's perceived tilt towards Israel on several key votes at the UN, the newspaper reported.
In December, Australia opposed a UN Security Council proposal that Israel end the occupation of Palestinian territories within two years.
Canberra has also withdrawn support for the contention that Israel as an "occupying power" should be forced to comply with the 1949 Geneva Conventions in relation to the occupied territories.
The opposition Labor Party, however, has been indicating that it could unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state during its federal conference in July.
Labor member of parliament Luke Foley, leader of the opposition in the New South Wales state parliament, told MPs this week that they should spend as much time in the West Bank "and/or Gaza" as in Israel, if they accepted "assisted travel" to Israel.
"I believe that [Labor] is reaching an important decision," Malki told the newspaper. "I think it reflects political maturity among the rank and file of the party and reflects what Australian public opinion wants Australian cannot exclude itself from the same phenomena that are sweeping the rest of the world, especially in Europe."
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