This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
AUSTRALIA’S right-wing government has decided to stop referring to east Jerusalem as “occupied,” ministers revealed today.
The issue flared in the Senate when Attorney-General George Brandis attempted to clarify Canberra’s stance on the the legality of settler homes.
“The description of areas which are the subject of negotiations … by reference to historical events is unhelpful,” he claimed.
“The description of east Jerusalem as ‘occupied’ east Jerusalem is a term freighted with pejorative implications which is neither appropriate nor useful.”
Mr Brandis had sparked a heated debate earlier in the Senate when he claimed no Australian government of any political persuasion “acknowledges or accepts” the use of the word “occupied.”
A number of senators disagreed, pointing out Australia had voted to support UN resolutions in 2011 and 2012, where such language was clearly used.
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon suggested that dropping the term “occupied” represented a “massive shift” in foreign policy.
