TO recognise the 60th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel, which falls on May 14, Kevin Rudd will today make a statement to federal parliament offering Australia's continued goodwill and support. Together with the recent marriage of Michael Danby in the first Jewish wedding ceremony in Parliament House, it is a further demonstration of the bipartisan support that exists for Israel. The Australian shares the Government's goodwill towards Israel and supports all efforts for a two-state solution that includes self-determination for Palestine and brings lasting peace to a much-troubled region.

Predictably, today's statement to parliament - the timing of which has been agreed between the Government and the Israeli embassy for the convenience of parliament - has spawned a chorus of dissent from the usual left-wing, anti-Israel suspects. In an advertisement in this newspaper, a group claiming to be informed and concerned Australians has distanced itself from what it says is "a celebration of the triumph of racism and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians since the al-Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948". The group says Australia and Australians should not give the Israeli people and its leaders the impression that Australia supports them in their dispossession of the Palestinian people.

The sponsors of the advertisement, which include individuals and organisations such as the Australian Friends of Palestine, the militant left-wing Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Socialist Alliance, are entitled to their view. The group expresses what is now fashionable thought in academe, increasingly attracted to victimhood, despite its history of support for Israel. Unfortunately, it offers nothing to further the cause of peace or properly recognise the tragic circumstances that underpinned the creation of the state of Israel in the first place.

Despite frantic efforts by US President George W.Bush to seek a legacy in successfully brokering a settlement between Israel and its neighbours - something that defeated his predecessors, including Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter - recent events have served only to underscore the intractability of the problem. Nowhere has the grotesque nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict been more evident than in the joyful celebrations among Gazan civilians following news that a deranged gunman had killed eight Jewish students - most of them 15 and 16-year-olds - in the library of the Mercay Harav Yeshiva last week. The attack has potentially opened a new front in the conflict, raising the possibility of new restrictions on the movement of Arab residents of East Jerusalem. The attack has also underscored divisions among those claiming to be the Palestinian leadership. The Palestinian Authority, under President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the attack but Hamas, the Palestinian leadership in the Gaza Strip, praised it. What does it say about Hamas culture that it would promote public celebration at the slaughter of children? One thing is certain: such barbaric displays by Israelis do not accompany news of the murder of Palestinians. The Australian believes Israel has been a force for good in the Middle East while its Arab opponents have, unfortunately, slipped backwards. Political efforts to blame Israel for the misfortune of ordinary Palestinians lack credibility. The fact is, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has been to the great disadvantage of ordinary Palestinians who find themselves caught in escalating violence led by zealots who have no interest in any settlement that recognises Israel's right to exist. These leaders are prepared to use the suffering of their own people in a propaganda war against Israel in the Western media. The success of this propaganda war can be seen in the support offered in advertisements, such as the one published today.

We reject the view that the Israeli conflict lies at the root of all the problems in the Middle East and is the trigger for the rise of al-Qa'ida and, by extension, terrorist acts such as the 9/11 bombings. In truth, al-Qa'ida had little to say about Israel or Palestine throughout the 1990s. Ironically, the rise of Tehran's regional influence and the appearance of Shia militias have led to an improvement in the relationship between Israel and the Sunni states of the Gulf that are themselves threatened by radical Islam. It is disappointing that no one on the Palestinian side has been able to pick up the opportunities for lasting peace. The fatal obstacle is the fact that neither Hamas nor the Iranian leadership in Tehran that sponsors Hezbollah is interested in anything that recognises Israel's existence. The Palestinian leadership has been unable to pick up the ball passed by Israeli leaders of vision, since 1992 under Yitzhak Rabin and in 2000 under Ehud Barak.

As Greg Sheridan wrote in response to the recent shooting murders, there are four interlocking, plausible reasons why Hamas prefers to perpetuate the suffering of its own people rather than ignore Israel and concentrate on running an independent Palestinian state. It wants to damage Israel internationally, radicalise other Palestinians, ensure Israel's policy of disengagement from the Palestinians fails and serve Hamas's Iranian and Syrian sponsors. We have great sympathy for the Palestinian people who are being used as pawns by those whose power depends upon maintaining a festering sore in relations with Israel. But like the governments in Australia, the US and Britain, we see through attempts to blame the victim, in this case Israel, for the dilemma. Against remarkable odds, Israel has prospered greatly over the past 60 years because of its commitment to democracy and the rule of law, which easily qualifies it for the enduring goodwill and support of friends such as Australia.

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