Australia guilty of double standard in supporting Israeli settlements

In February, Britain's Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron issued a startling rebuke of Israel's policies and behaviour in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Despite being "a strong friend of Israel", Cameron said his visits to the region had lead him to see Israel's settlements built on Palestinian territory as "genuinely shocking" and he reiterated his government does "not support illegal settlements".

This is only the most recent sign of a broadening international consensus that the settlements are illegal under international law. What is more, even Israel's chief ally, the United States, along with the European Union, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, plus the ALP and the Greens, all agree the settlements are a key barrier to peace efforts. Indeed, work from a range of experts in international negotiation – drawing on research in political science, peace building, social psychology, psychology, conflict transformation and terrorism studies – shows how the settlements are a significant block to peace.

Israel's settlements are built on land seized from Palestinians in 1967 – land that was to be set aside for the basis of a Palestinian state to emerge through the US-sponsored Oslo peace talks that kicked off in the early 1990s. 

Since the beginning of the peace process, Israel's settlements have more than doubled in size. Since 2015, Israel's settlement activities have further intensified. According to Israeli non-government organisation Peace Now, in 2015 construction began on 1800 housing units in the settlements. Since January, several additional expansions have been announced.

The Labor NSW conference in February saw no fewer than seven motions – most put forward by local Labor branches – calling for boycotts against the settlements or other action by Australia to oppose the settlements. None of the motions was passed by the conference. These motions represented an important opportunity for practical action by the ALP in the face of the serious threat to peace posed by the settlements.

This matters for Australian taxpayers because of the significant political support Australia, particularly Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his government, provides to Israel and its settlement policies. It also matters given the lucrative contracts the government has awarded to Israeli arms companies – the same Israeli arms companies that actively support Israel's occupation and associated settlements.

Analysis of a key set of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade financial records, made available to the public for the first time here, show that over the past 10 years the Australian government has spent more than $1.5 billion on contracts with Israeli arms companies, primarily the company Elbit Systems. (The data is also summarised here.) Elbit supplies surveillance equipment for the highly controversial wall Israel has built throughout the occupied Palestinian West Bank, a wall that is integral to Israel's occupation and settlement activities. The wall, like the occupation and settlements, is illegal under international law.

Last month, it was revealed that Mary Easson, one of five members of the NSW branch of the pro-Israel lobby group the Australia Israel Labor Dialogue, is also a lobbyist for the Australian subsidiary of Elbit Systems. The Australia Israel Labor Dialogue was highly active in lobbying ALP members to reject motions at the NSW Labor conference critical of Israel or its supporters, including those calling for a boycott of the settlements. In response to the revelations about Easson's Elbit role, former foreign minister and former NSW premier Bob Carr called for greater transparency from the Australia Israel Labor Dialogue in how it raises its funds.

Australia's political support for the settlements and continuing trade with Israeli arms companies that profit from the wall associated with the settlements is deeply problematic. It reveals a deep and dangerous double standard in how Australia responds to human rights abuses in one the world's most volatile regions. Compare it with the range of punitive sanctions Australia levels at other governments and groups in the region that also have highly problematic human rights records: Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Iraq, Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

Australian acquiescence towards the settlements presents a dangerous break from the consensus among Australia's key allies: a consensus that acknowledges the settlements are a fundamental barrier to peace efforts. And given what we know about how the settlements are a serious impediment to the peace process, Australian political support for these same settlements and complicit arms manufacturers also clearly runs counter to the official Australian political consensus (shared by the government, Labor, and the Greens) calling for a negotiated peace settlement for the conflict.

Paul Duffill is a member of the executive committee of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney.