Mr CADMAN (2:03 PM) —My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Would the Prime Minister inform the House of the government’s reaction to the situation in Lebanon and the prospect of the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon? Is this part of a wider push for democracy in the Middle East?

Mr HOWARD (Prime Minister) —I thank the member for Mitchell for what is a very important question about a very encouraging series of developments. I would be the first to agree that one should greet with some caution the announcement made over the weekend about a phased Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. But the very fact that that announcement has been made is a remarkable thing in itself, and it is the latest in a series of very encouraging developments. As I will mention to the House later when I make a statement about the sending of an Australian task group to southern Iraq, one of the most inspiring images of recent years has been that of brave Iraqi men and women holding their ink-stained fingers aloft after they have participated in an exercise in democracy. That particular event is of a piece with other encouraging events in the Middle East: the democratic process that led to the election of Mahmoud Abbas, who is showing a strength and a dignity in leading the Palestinian people that was absent in earlier years, and the hopeful developments towards a more democratic approach in even Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Taking all of these events together, there is reason to have both hope and some belief that things may be taking a turn for the better.

I do not want to overstate it, and in all likelihood some of the advances that have been made over the last few months will go into reverse in the future, but it was almost unthinkable six months ago that people could be talking about the sort of successful election that took place in Iraq, it was almost unthinkable six months ago that people could be even talking about a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and it was unthinkable six months ago that we could be talking about the possibility of some kind of settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

There are obligations on everyone in this. That is my view, and I am speaking as somebody who has always been a close and unapologetic supporter of the state of Israel. That is a view that I conveyed to the Israeli President when I saw him last week: that there are obligations on Israel as there are obligations on the Palestinians. It remains one of the great missed opportunities of modern times that the offer made by Ehud Barak in the year 2000 was not taken up by Yasser Arafat. But that is five years ago; it is in the past. What we are concerned about is the opportunities of the present.

Can I say to the honourable member for Mitchell that there are some signs of real hope, but we do need to have further dialogue to bring about an immediate withdrawal of the Syrian forces, the end of external support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and the disbanding of the militias. The announcement made by the Syrian leader is only a beginning, but one hopes there is progress made on that. If indeed we do see further progress, history may well record that the toppling of Saddam Hussein from his position of brutal dictatorship was one of the more significant events in the Middle East in long years.