Planning & International Cooperation Bureau welcomes the Australian Decision to Use the Term ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’

Aug 10, 2023

The Planning and International Cooperation Bureau commends the Australian government’s return to using the term ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’, including East Jerusalem, and its opposition to the construction of ‘Israeli settlements’ as illegal and a significant obstacle to peace. In this regard, we would like to affirm that the accurate description of the problem is the first step towards achieving justice.

As we welcome this positive development, we call on all free nations to adhere to international law, which criminalizes settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories. We also urge further practical steps to halt the cancerous expansion of settlements on Palestinian lands. This expansion has been growing in recent days, supported and blessed by the extreme right-wing factions within the occupation government.

In this context, we reiterate that the path to achieving security and stability in the region starts with ending the occupation in all its forms and manifestations, facilitating the return of refugees to their homes from which they were forcefully displaced in 1948 and 1967, and establishing an independent Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem.

Planning & International Cooperation Bureau

           Gaza – Palestine