A Labor backbencher says Australians should be banned from being able to fund illegal Israeli settlements
Labor backbencher Julian Hill has urged the government to ban Australians from funding illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including visa bans for “extremist settlers”, as the foreign minister prepares to meet with victims of settler violence.
Over the past 100 days since the war in Gaza began, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes in the West Bank, and settlers have committed hundreds of violent attacks, killing several civilians.
According to Human Rights Watch, settler violence in the West Bank was already at its worst in two decades before the outbreak of war in Gaza, but it has since doubled.
While the territories are separate, and the West Bank is governed by the Palestinian Authority and not Hamas, the conflict in Gaza has also brought escalated violence in the West Bank.
Mr Hill said the acceleration of violence was deeply concerning, labelling it a structural impediment to a two-state solution.
“It’s clear under international law that the continued dispossession of Palestinians from homes … is illegal,” Mr Hill said.
“The UN has reported many incidents where settlers were heavily armed and accompanied by Israeli Security Forces or wearing ISF uniforms … this activity is abhorrent, and the international community has rightly condemned settlements and called on the Israeli government to act.”
In December, the federal government joined more than a dozen countries in a joint statement to restate the settlements were illegal and denounce violent acts by Israeli settlers “terrorising Palestinian communities”.
Mr Hill said the government’s position was encouraging but “stern words and finger pointing” were not enough.
“If we’re in a circumstance where action has not been taken, then it’s a matter of logic that we need to consider what further measures may be warranted … to pressure the Israeli authorities and the extremist settlers to stop this activity,” Mr Hill said.
It is unknown how many Australians are funding settlements in the West Bank, which have been deemed in violation of international law.
Mr Hill has also called for an investigation into whether the federal government granted tax-deductible gift recipient status to groups supporting settler activity.
“They need to be investigated and, if proven, those organisations should be shut down and their deductible-gift-recipient status removed,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said today he was not aware of the issue, but reiterated that settlements in the West Bank posed an impediment to enduring peace in the region.
Jewish lobby groups have contended Israel has also denounced settler violence, with the Australia-Israel & Jewish Affairs Council saying in December the statement by Australia and other nations was counterproductive.
The United Nations said that as of January 14, 330 people had been killed by Israeli forces and at least eight by settlers.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong will meet with her counterparts in Jordan, Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the United Arab Emirates during a week-long visit.
Senator Wong will also meet with victims of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank this week, as well as victims of the Hamas terror attack while in Israel.
When asked about Mr Hill’s comments, Senator Wong said she would not speculate about sanctions.
“Settler violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories must be condemned and we do so in our efforts to use our voice to advocate for a pathway out of this conflict,” Senator Wong said.
“We have made very clear that one of the priorities must be to avoid regional escalation and that sort of violence, as [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken has pointed out, attacking Palestinians where they have a right to be is the wrong thing to do, and certainly not conducive to ensuring there is not an escalation in terms of those calls.”
(ABC)
