BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian officials say they will ask Arab and Muslim-majority countries to re-evaluate relations with Australia after Canberra dropped the term "occupied" when referring to East Jerusalem.
In a letter to Julie Bishop, Australia's foreign minister, the PLO's chief negotiator blasted that decision and said Palestine would respond by asking two regional Arab and Muslim state blocs to review their ties with Australia.
| Oh! Oh! Review their ties, will they! I'm sure that has the Aussies just shaking in their kangaroo boots... |
| That's absurd. I'm pretty sure Australians don't wear ties. |
"Palestine will request that the Arab League and the Islamic Conference review the relations of the Arab and Islamic world with Australia in light of Australia's unlawful recognition of the illegal settlement regime in occupied Palestine," Saeb Erekat wrote in the June 5 letter, which was obtained by Ma'an.
| Unlawful? According to whom? |
He condemned Attorney-General George Brandis' pronouncement in Australia's senate this week that the use of the word "occupied" to describe East Jerusalem was "neither appropriate nor useful."
The remarks demonstrate that Australia "does not intend to comply with its duty under international law not to recognize Israeli sovereignty over any part of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem," Erekat wrote.
He added: "Palestine views these developments in the gravest terms and is weighing the appropriate legal and diplomatic response."
| Keep it peaceful, Erekat, or you might find yourself being visited by the Aussie SAS... |
Israel occupied East Jerusalem along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 after a Middle East war. It later annexed the city in a move that was never recognized internationally.
The issue flared in Australia's Senate this week after Brandis issued a statement to clarify Canberra's stance on the question of the legality of settler homes in East Jerusalem.
"The description of areas which are the subject of negotiations in the course of the peace process by reference to historical events is unhelpful," he said Thursday. "The description of east Jerusalem as 'occupied' east Jerusalem is a term freighted with pejorative implications which is neither appropriate nor useful.
"It should not and will not be the practice of the Australian government to describe areas of negotiation in such judgmental language." |