The Palestine Liberation Organisation has condemned Julie Bishop's recent comments that question the illegality of Israeli settlements and called on the Australian government to clarify its position on the settlements.
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In a statement on Monday, PLO Department of Culture and Information head Hanan Ashrawi also denounced what she described as a ''dangerous shift'' in Australian foreign policy and a ''wilful defiance of international consensus'' on the settlements issue.
Last week, during her trip to Israel for the funeral of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, Ms Bishop cast doubt of the illegality of the settlements in an interview with The Times of Israel.
When asked whether she agreed with the ''near-universal view'' that Israeli settlements anywhere beyond 1967 lines are illegal under international law, she replied: "I would like to see which international law has declared them illegal."
Ms Bishop further explained: "I don't think it's helpful to prejudge the settlement issue if you're trying to get a negotiated solution. And by deeming the activity as a war crime, it's unlikely to engender a negotiated solution."
Dr Ashrawi, who is a PLO executive committee member, said that she wanted to ''remind'' the Australian government that all settlements were illegal under international human rights and humanitarian law.
''Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article 43 of the Hague Regulations ... explicitly state that Israel is in direct violation of international law with its illegal settlement activities,'' she said.
''We strongly urge the government of Australia to clarify its official position regarding its settlements.''
The Fourth Geneva Convention states that an ''occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies''.
Israel has argued that the convention does not apply to territories occupied as a result of the 1967 6-Day War, but international bodies such as the United Nations Security Council have found that it does.
Head of the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi, said he had sought urgent meetings with senior DFAT officials in the wake of Ms Bishop's comments.
Dr Abdulhadi said he had met Ms Bishop last Thursday at a dinner in Canberra, before he was aware of her recent comments to The Times of Israel.
He said he had expressed his concerns about the Coalition's position on settlements, and told that he thought she had "very poor advice on this issue".
Ms Bishop's comments follow a change in the Australian government's position on the issue under the Coalition. Acting on instructions from Ms Bishop, government representatives at the UN have withdrawn Australia's support for an order to stop "all Israeli settlement activities in all of the occupied territories".
On Monday, former foreign minister Bob Carr said that for Ms Bishop to hesitate over the illegality question "was to show an ignorance of international law".
When he was foreign minister, Mr Carr held the unequivocal position that all Israeli settlements were illegal.
"Julie Bishop should speak to [UK Foreign Secretary] William Hague or to the foreign minister of any conservative government in Europe, who will simply repeat what is a commonplace and commonsense opinion," he said.
Ms Bishop was travelling in the US on Monday and unavailable for comment.
Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek was travelling in the Middle East and also unavailable.
In November last year, Ms Plibersek criticised the Abbott government's change in voting position on the settlements, saying it occurred without proper consultation.
With Jonathan Swan
