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Monday, 9 December 2013
Page: 1161

Senator MILNE (Tasmania—Leader of the Australian Greens) (16:29): I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) Australia voted against United Nations (UN) resolution L18, which reaffirms ‘that the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan are illegal and an obstacle to peace and economic and social development’, No. 7—9 December 2013 11

(ii) previously Australia had voted for this resolution for 15 out of the past 20 years, including under the former Liberal National Party Government,

(iii) Australia abstained in the vote on UN resolution L17, regarding the applicability of the Geneva conventions to the West Bank,

(iv) Australia has voted for similar resolutions at the UN in 16 of the past 20 years, and abstained in only four other years, and

(v) a Roy Morgan poll of November 2011 showed that 64 per cent of Australians polled, opposed the building of settlements on Occupied Palestinian Territories;

(b) calls on the Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, to ensure Australia in future supports UN resolutions that identify illegal Israeli settlements as a major roadblock to peace in the Middle East; and

(c) reaffirms its commitment to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.