The questionable merit of Australia's official support for a two-state solution to the Palestine conflict

· Currently, Israel has effective control of the entire area under dispute, either as part of the Israeli state or as occupied territory, and this already provides a large degree of security.

· There are good strategic reasons why Israel wishes to retain military control over the West Bank and Golan Heights, and ensure that any Palestinian managed lands are largely demilitarised.

Given all these considerations, it is very likely that instability will persist, and that the short-term outcomes will be settled on the battlefield.

In many ways both sides in this conflict are victims of history and of the great powers of various times. In particular, the Romans, Ottomans, Nazis and the British have imposed outcomes beyond the control of either side. The British eventually withdrew, leaving Arabs and Jews to fight it out.

It is also true that both the Israelis and the Palestinians committed crimes on their opposing side.

In 1920s to 1940s Zionist paramilitaries engaged in violent campaigns against British authorities, Palestinian Arabs, and internal Jewish dissenters to advance their political goals. Arguably, terrorism was the principal weapon of Jews (and of Palestinians for that matter) in harassing the British authorities in Palestine. There was de-facto ethnic cleansing of Palestinians following both the 1948 and 1967 wars, and there are questions about whether destruction during past wars in Gaza and Lebanon was entirely necessary and proportionate. Similarly, there are questions about the appropriation of Palestinian property, especially in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

On the Palestinian side, there were many pogroms against Jews from the 19^th century until 1948. Later, the actions of Palestinian terrorist groups worldwide were notorious for the killing of civilians in the decades post-1967. Terrorist outrages did the Palestinian cause a great deal of harm in this era.

Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, which also involved the dismantling of 21settlements, provided Gaza with a form of self-government. Hamas, which took control, wasted much of its resources and foreign aid on building military tunnels and acquiring rockets and other weapons to use against Israel. Gaza would be far more prosperous today if Hamas had instead used its resources for development. In this respect, Gazans are significantly responsible for their current fate.

A close alternative to the two-state solution could involve Israel handing Gaza back to Egypt, and giving administrative control of the West Bank to Jordan. This option does not seem to be a goer either, as neither country is keen to get these territories (and their problems) returned.

Overall, Australia is geographically remote from the Middle East and is a relatively small player in World affairs outside of our own region. Consequently, Australia can't be a major player in solving problems in the Middle East. More significantly, Australia should also ensure that it does not pledge its support for policies that are naïve and have little prospect of realisation.

There is no obvious negotiated quick fix-for the Israel-Palestine problem so that the side with the strongest military will prevail for the foreseeable future.