Mrs CROSIO (10:48 PM) —Five months have elapsed since a subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee decided on a direction to look at Australia's relations with the Middle East nations. There seemed to be at that time a growing sense of confidence in the Middle East, and I believe the whole world was awaiting the news that, following the many successful meetings between Prime Minister Barak of Israel and President Arafat of Palestine, peace would finally prevail in that region. I acknowledge that Australia may not be a large player in the politics in the Middle East, but I think we have to stand up and be counted when we see on our TVs and we read in our press the extraordinary conflicts that are now taking place between Israel and Palestine. The Sydney Morning Herald today had a very small summary which people may have overlooked which needs to be repeated here in the House. They have put down how, within a few short days, that region has slipped towards war. It says:

They believed this was the spark that started the violence. It continues:

and we all remember it so very vividly, by that French television crew. It continues:

And it just goes on and on. I know, Mr Speaker, that you too have seen some of those places. We talk about it, read about it and understand and appreciate the concerns when people were now saying around the world that surely we were going to have peace in the Middle East. I do not condone the kidnapping of the three Israeli soldiers—in fact, I condemn it completely—but now, with the latest count of 90 people being killed and over 1,800 wounded, I think we have to condemn the action that is taking place. There seemed to be a gridlock in that peace process. So much had been achieved. So much work had been put into it—there were the Camp David meetings and how President Clinton had brought the two parties together. I believe that the world, as I stated before, was waiting with bated breath to see that finally Palestine would be able to declare itself as an individual state and, more importantly, we would have peace in that region.

All that has now gone by the wayside. I believe that, if all that work goes, it will be an absolute crime. I appeal to both sides—and I feel sure that our Prime Minister and our foreign affairs minister should be doing the same—to let commonsense prevail. Killing does not achieve any goal. All it does is install hatred for the next generation to come. They feel they are required to avenge the death of their family members and therefore that hate goes on and on. I think that region has seen enough over many years. It is about time that commonsense prevailed. I also believe that the two people who are leading the talks—Prime Minister Barak and President Arafat—have the ability to bring peace to that region. If either of those people pull out of that peace consultation process because of what has happened in these last few days and we do not see peace in the Middle East, it will be a long time before that region has settlement. I appeal to both the Prime Minister and the foreign affairs minister to at least voice Australia's concerns, and say to the leaders over there: `We do not condone what is happening; we condemn both sides in the conflict. What we should be about as a nation of the world is peace. Let us work together to see that that is achievable.' We cannot afford any more killings in that region or in any other region of the world but, more particularly, we cannot see all that work go by the wayside. (Time expired)