Excellent article, Joseph.

I would add one thing though - that US may not be alone in witholding financial aid, as reported here: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/284386/news/world/un-set-to-implicitly-recognize-palestinian-state-despite-us-israel-threats

which states: "State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated U.S. warnings that the move could cause a reduction of U.S. economic support for the Palestinians. The Israelis have also warned they might take significant deductions out of monthly transfers of duties that Israel collects on the Palestinians' behalf."

And here are a couple of excellent articles that all should read:

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-alone-and-self-righteous.premium-1.481196

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/on-november-29-israel-should-vote-for-two-states.premium-1.481277

After today, the ball will be well and truly in Israel's court and the world will watch to see if they play a fair game.

It's difficult to answer this without some reader translating my words into 'anti-semitism'. I see Palestinians and Israelis as brother/sister Semitic people separated by that permanently divisive entity, religion.
As far as Australia is concerned, our leaders are still slavishly following the command of the "USA/Israeli vote card" by abstaining from voting. "We must do what we're told to do by the USA" has been our pathetic mantra for far too long.

"After today, the ball will be well and truly in Israel's court and the world will watch to see if they play a fair game," says Scribbler.

When has Israel ever played a fair game? I must've missed it. Perhaps you could remind me?

While the recognition of the Palestinian state is a right step towards the two states solution to the middle east problem, it was not put clearly by the Palestinian, that they recognise the existence of the sate of Israel.

Dr Avner OTTENSOOSER
Woollahra

well said Joseph!

In response to Dr Ottensooser: It is one thing to recognise the existence of the racist settler state of Israel on Palestinian land. However the Zionists are demanding that the Palestinians extend this recognition to accepting that Israel is legitimate and can and should last for ever.

It is not legitimate. It was established by violence and is retained and continuously expanded by violence. It doesn't even have a constitution for fear of having to define its borders. And it won' t last far beyond the end of America's dependence on Middle East oil.

While the Palestinians would be fools not to recognise the de facto existence of Israel, they would be much worse fools to accept it as legitimate and permanent.

What a pile of!

This is just another instance of Labor buying the vote of another special interest group.

It is even a waste at that. Their illegal boat people policy has been to buy the Muslim vote, & has worked beautifully for them, while costing every non Muslim heaps.

They did not have to make this extra gesture to hold that vote, but hay, why not do this to excess, just like everything else they do.

The vote has been held based on a lie. The country of Palestine was never expunged in the first place.

To claim it was is just plain wrong no matter how many times the zionists and their shills screech.

The US have been disgraceful over this but at last our own ALP backbench found their balls and didn't vote with them.

Although our bribed client states in the region did.

And today the coward Bowen and his racist PM were forced to bring a dying man from Nauru before they killed him.

OUr treatment of refugees and asylum seekers can only be described as bullying.

Hasbeen you are utterly incoherent again. There is no such thing as an illegal boat person and even if there was what does that have to do with Palestine apart from the fact that 100 Palestinians are currently jailed here for asking us for help.

Emp Julian:

“[Israel] is not legitimate”

Israel was established by a UN resolution. It is more legitimate than most other independent countries in the world. What are you basing your claim on?

You keep repeating your theory that the US supports Israel due to America’s dependence on oil from the Middle East. Can I remind you that the oil is concentrated in Arab countries, not in Israel. Logic dictates that the oil issue should encourage the US to support the Arabs against Israel now, while they are dependant on Arab oil. Can you explain your illogical theory?

“…the Palestinians would be fools… to accept [Israel] as legitimate and permanent”

Obviously you are not a supporter of the two-state solution. What do you support then? The solution proposed by Hamas? Hezbollah? Or do you have an even more radical proposal?

It is because of extremists like yourself that the region is doomed to a perpetual state of war.

Marilyn:

“The country of Palestine was never expunged in the first place”

You mean it never existed in the first place.

“…our bribed client states in the region [voted with the US]”

The only obvious bribery case we had here was a vote buying exercise by the ALP.

Re Avw

*Legitimacy: Israel was never legitimised by any agreement with or even input from the actual people who lived there. Foreigners can use UN to enforce a regime but they can’t legitimise it any more than they could legitimise the colonial archipelago in Africa. Even the part of Israel that was put there by the foreigners in the UN has been far exceeded by conquests since 1948, and the extra territory is no more legitimate even by the exclusively foreign UN than was South-West Africa when Apartheid South Africa grabbed it. If the foreigners want at least the appearance of legitimacy in Israel they might start by obeying the slew of UN resolutions of which they are defying.

*Oil: Israel renders a vital service by keeping the Middle East, even now extending to Iran, in constant uproar and threat.

*Bribery: The Australian abstention from the Palestine resolution was in keeping with the views of the overwhelming majority of the UN delegates including the British and European delegates. Marilyn was probably referring to a group of tiny Pacific Island nations which routinely vote on global issues according to who is the highest bidder.

*Extreme solution: You want extreme? Try a state formalised as an exclusive “homeland” for a global ethnic group of many real nationalities. Not just extreme but unique. My oft-repeated solution and that of very many others is DEMOCRACY, a totally foreign concept to Zionists (and not a comfortable one for Hamas or Hezbollah or even Fatah either). A secular, democratic state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean which does not discriminate on the basis of religion and ethnicity.

I think that Labor electing to be neutral on Palistinian recognition by the UN is based on desperation rather than some noble humanitarian deed.

They have a lot of Muslims in their electorates and need all the support they can muster.

If Labor had real courage and a sense of justice, they would have voted in the positive for Palistinian recognition and told the Zionists to face reality.

Arjay wrote: "If Labor had real courage and a sense of justice, they would have voted in the positive for Palestinian recognition."

Absolutely right! It seems Ms Gillard wanted to vote please sir thank you sir and got rolled by her colleagues. It must have taken a major revolt to impel Ms Gillard to disappoint America. It would be interesting to know how many, if any, showed real courage and a sense of justice. Anyone know any Labor insiders?

The key issue here that no-one seems to mention is where Australia's interests lie.

There is an old adage that applied to the Soviet Union during the second world war. It is:

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

The muslim extremists have repeatedly demonstrated their animosity to Australia in terrorist attacks (both implemented and planned) over the past decade.

Israel is the only middle east state with culture and values anywhere approaching Australia's.

The muslim extremists make no secret that Israel is their avowed enemy.

Israel is therefore a natural ally of Australia.

Plerdsus.Have a look at this site.http://ae911truth.org/ It is very unlikely that Muslims had any hand in the 911 attacks.The science of freefall says that it was impossible for 3 buildings at the World Trade Centre to collapse at virtual 9.8m/sec/sec like a rock falling off a cliff.

There is now absolute proof that they had to be a controlled demolition.

Emp Julian:

‘Actual people who lived there’ included both Jews and Arabs. That is why the land was divided between the two peoples. As for the ‘conquests since 1948’ you are referring to, it is very convenient to forget that those ‘conquests’ were made in self defence against the FOREIGN armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. These foreign armies did not bother with obtaining any UN resolutions, they simply tried to take the country over by force.

“Oil: Israel renders a vital service by keeping the Middle East, even now extending to Iran, in constant uproar and threat”

It’s a simple formula really:

War + turmoil = interrupted oil supply -> price of oil skyrockets
Peace + stability = steady oil supply -> price of oil stable

You should perhaps review the logic of your statement.

Bribery – the need to satisfy the growing population of Middle Easter origin in Australia was specifically cited by the ALP. Do you not consider this as a vote buying exercise (ie bribery)?

“DEMOCRACY, a totally foreign concept to Zionists (and not a comfortable one for Hamas or Hezbollah or even Fatah either)”

You seem to imply that the concept of democracy is more foreign to Israel than it is to Hamas and the PA. Really? When was the last election run in Gaza? In the West Bank?
Other than parroting the usual hysterical cries of lack of democracy in Israel, do you have any evidence to back up your claims?

You support a one-state solution. I seem to remember this solution has already been tried several times around the world. It was attempted in Yugoslavia, how did that experiment turn out for you? How about in Lebanon? India? And you want to try it yet again. Repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results – isn’t that the definition of insanity?