Ms Gillard said it was hardly surprising that there was a range of views on the issue.
"There's obviously a debate, a very real debate about matters in the Middle East, and so I suppose a politician's visit ... is going to be remarked upon," Ms Gillard told ABC television.
Labor were "strong friends and supporters" of Israel, she said.
The party strongly supported "a two-state solution, with secure borders to recognise the needs and aspirations of the Palestinian people".
Israel to Gillard: thanks for standing by us JASON KOUTSOUKIS, JERUSALEM June 24, 2009
Julia Gillard and Peter Costello rekindle the eternal flame at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust museum.
Before she even arrived in Jerusalem for the Australia-Israel leadership forum, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard had made a lasting impression on local powers that be.
In front of an elite audience of Israeli politicians, academics and cultural figures at a dinner at the landmark King David Hotel, senior Israeli minister Isaac Herzog paid a warm tribute to Ms Gillard for her support for Israel during the Gaza conflict in January.
"You stood almost alone on the world stage in support of Israel's right to defend itself," enthused Mr Herzog, an act of courage he said would never be forgotten by the people of Israel.
Ms Gillard was Acting Prime Minister when Israel launched a three-week offensive against Hamas that resulted in the deaths of more than 1300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
At the time, Ms Gillard condemned Hamas for shelling southern Israel, but pointedly refused to criticise Israel's response, although she did urge it to be "very mindful" of civilian casualties.
One other opinion .. note: Dowding was a Labor Premier.
What is Gillard’s Israel visit all about? by former WA Premier Peter Dowding Tuesday, 9 June 2009
No one should be surprised at the news that the Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard is hot footing it to Israel with some of the local press with a long track record for supporting the Israeli view of the Middle East. Which is basically?—?to paraphrase the Orwell line?—?“Israel good, Palestinians bad”.
US President Obama’s speech in Egypt and his insistence on some basic compliance by Israel with UN declarations has clearly wrong-footed Australia and angered the strong Israel lobby within the ALP.
Members like Michael Danby and others have made it their business to ensure that Australia’s foreign policy mirrored the worst of the shallowness of the Bush era which simply writes off those who believe in meeting Palestinian aspirations to live in some semblance of a homeland with some semblance of dignity, as ranting supporters of terrorism.
Of course there is a serious issue of the use of terrorism, but that applies to the terrorism from people with nothing left to lose as well as State terrorism. And for those in the Government who still do not understand the issues, Paul McGeough’s latest book Kill Khalid provides insight into the complete failure of all the major participants to move forward towards creating a just and lasting peace.
Our Foreign Policy has been very pro Israel?—?just look at the appalling silence when Israel, one of the strongest nuclear powers in the world, decimated the civilian population of Gaza where 1.5 million people live in a small area, trapped from any reasonable contact with the outside world.
The few ALP Caucus members who dare to hold the view that peace in the Middle East requires reigning in the unlawful Israeli occupations and demands that Palestinians be treated with some dignity have been warned not to go public but to keep any discussions about the policy in-house.
In the meantime, our foreign minister must be feeling very uncomfortable with the Obama play?—?it’s such a pity, as Australia could have used its position as an honest broker. Instead it hung on to the extreme Jewish lobby coattails and the Bush madness for too long.
Then re both our countries, of course, there was the .. excerpts ..
On 3 November 2009, the United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution denouncing the report as "irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy." In contrast, the European Parliament passed a resolution endorsing the Goldstone report in March 2010, but by a narrow margin. The non-binding resolution called on the bloc's member states to "publicly demand the implementation of [the report's] recommendations and accountability for all violations of international law, including alleged war crimes."
[...]
General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly endorsed a resolution calling for independent investigations to be conducted by Israel and Hamas on allegations of war crimes described in the Goldstone report. The resolution was passed by overwhelming numbers with 114 in favour and 18 against, and 44 abstentions. The resolution calls on the UN Secretary General to report to the General Assembly within three months "with a view to considering further action, if necessary, by the relevant United Nations organs and bodies", and to send the report to the Security Council. The resolution enjoyed wide support among the Non-Aligned Movement bloc and the Arab bloc that comprise a majority of 120 votes. Most developing countries voted in favor. The countries that voted against the resolution were: Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, the Netherlands, Palau, Panama, Poland, Slovakia, The Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine and the United States. Some European countries, namely Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal, Malta, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland, voted in favor of the resolution. Other European countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Spain, abstained.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the vote showed that Israel has a "moral majority", adding: "[we] are pleased that 18 democratic 'premier league' states voted in line with Israel's position, while 44 South American and African states abstained".
Report submitted to U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs accuses Jerusalem of delaying transfer of military equipment, despite Washington's efforts to train PA forces in West Bank.
By Barak Ravid .. Latest update 00:57 26.07.10
A report by a U.S. government watchdog has found that the Israeli government's conduct in recent years - including delaying the transfer to Palestinian security forces of AK-47 rifles, radios, vehicles and uniforms - hampers U.S. efforts to train those forces in the West Bank.
"The implementation of the U.S. security assistance programs faces a number of logistical constraints that are largely outside of U.S. control, and these security assistance programs outpace efforts to develop the limited capacity of the PA police and justice sector," states the report, which was compiled by the U.S. Government Accountability Office and presented to the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs and its subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. It was recently released to the public.
Palestinian security officers, loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, take part in a training session in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, in June 2010. Photo by: AP
The report cited officials from the U.S. State Department and the bureau of the U.S. security coordinator as saying that "the process for obtaining government of Israel approval for the shipment and delivery of equipment for the PASF [Palestinian Authority Security Forces] is lengthy and may hamper the timely arrival of U.S. shipments. Moreover, the USSC lacks the means to hold the government of Israel or the PA accountable if shipments are delayed or approvals withheld."
The Government Accountability Office worked on the report from July 2009 to last May, meeting with American, Israeli and Palestinian officials in Washington, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ramallah. The document examines the extent and effectiveness of U.S. security assistance to the PA since 2007, in the context of the roadmap peace plan requiring security efforts as a prelude to the implementation of the two-state solution.
The report calls on the State Department to define specific objectives and come up with concrete methods of measuring progress, especially given the fact that it has invested $392 million in rehabilitating and training PA security forces since 2007 - more than $160 million to fund certain units of the security forces, $89 million for vehicles and nonlethal equipment, $99 million for the renovation or construction of PA security forces' installations and $22 million in programs to increase the forces' capacity. The State Department has requested an additional $150 million for 2011.
American military consultants are cited as saying there has been an improvement in the security situation in the West Bank, but that it is probably not directly linked to their work.
For their part, Israeli and Palestinian officials praise the training activities, but the document states that the U.S. government doesn't have the means to determine whether such training is actually helping the PA meet its commitments under the roadmap.
Like the State Department, the Israeli government also comes in for criticism. The report quotes top American and Palestinian officials, who describe how Israel delays and hampers the training of Palestinian forces, whether deliberately or because of red tape.
"State [Department] officials stated that the government of Israel prefers not to establish objectives or measures that might limit its flexibility to conduct security operations within the West Bank," the report says.
Despite Israel's demand that the Palestinians act against terrorist groups, Israel has rebuffed American efforts to train Palestinian forces in combating terror, the Government Accountability Office found. The report states that the Americans wanted to set up Palestinian counterterrorist units, a step opposed by the Israeli government.
The document also states that Israel is delaying the transfer of light weapons and ammunition to Palestinian security forces. For instance, a shipment of 1,000 AK-47s was approved by the Israeli government, but detained in customs.
PA officials quoted in the report say the shortage of up-to-date weaponry hampers international efforts to improve the functioning of Palestinian security forces. However, an Israeli Defense Ministry official disputed this, saying the PA forces "had sufficient weapons."
American officials told the accountability office that Israel was delaying the transfer of nonlethal equipment as well, and insists on deciding on a case-by-case basis whether equipment can be transferred to the PA. For instance, Israel approved the shipment of raincoats to the Palestinians, but would not "guarantee the approval of future shipments of raincoats of comparable types and quantities," according to the report.
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