ECAJ rejects Carr’s legal statement
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has joined Shadow Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in rejecting the legal argument put forward by Foreign Minister Bob Carr backing his statement made at Lakemba mosque that all Israeli settlements on Palestinian land are illegal.
Dr Danny Lamm
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Dr Danny Lamm has issued the following statement: “I do not accept the legal arguments put by Foreign Minister Carr. No previous Australian Foreign Minister has publicly declared that “all” the settlements in the West Bank are illegal.
Neither the UN resolutions he cites nor the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice are legally definitive or binding.
Settlements are only one of several final status issues to be negotiated by the parties. The one-dimensional focus on this sole issue to the exclusion of others, while peace talks are under way, makes it harder for both parties to make the compromises that a final peace agreement would require.”
I have discussed these myths and fabrications used to demonize Israel (4th Geneva Convention and much more – “Occupied Territory”, “Illegal Settlements” ) – at some length as per customary and prevailing International Law.
It can be found here:
http://www.jwire.com.au/featured-articles/palestine-the-unending-conflict-part-2-writes-george-peters/36059
Congratulations ECAJ for highlighting the absurdity of Foreign Minister Carr’s claim that Israeli settlements are all illegal in international law.
As you succinctly state:
“Neither the UN resolutions he (Carr) cites nor the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice are legally definitive or binding.”
In committing the Labor Party to Carr’s viewpoint -the Labor Party has now thrown into question the right of Jews to live anywhere in the area of the Mandate for Palestine where the provisions of the Mandate expressly stipulated that Jews would be entitled to settle for the purposes of reconstituting the Jewish National Home.
If Jews according to Carr and the Labor Party are not allowed to live in Maale Adumim because it is illegal – on what basis do they consider it legal for Jews to live in Tel Aviv?
The right of Jews to settle in both places spring from the same law – article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter.
Hamas and the PLO will be overjoyed at the announcement of this policy by the Labor Party. They both consider the 1922 Mandate for Palestine illegal and void along with everything that has happened since.
It appears that neither Carr nor the Foreign Affairs Department – and I would assume the Labor Party before announcing this policy at the Lakemba mosque – have ever considered these critical pieces of international law.
They need to explain why.
Hope the ECAJ can get Carr and PM Rudd to respond without delay.