Australia has announced that its contribution to the multinational Sinai peacekeeping force will consist of about 120 men eight helicopters, and support equipment.
In his first official comment on Australian participation since talks between the Australian government and American officials earlier this year, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tony Street, said the Australian contingent would be established at El Gorah in the northern Sinai by March 20. The peacekeeping force takes up duty on April 25 when Israel is scheduled to complete its withdrawal from the peninsula. The Australian commitment to the force was for two years.
Street said the Australian contingent would perform air traffic control functions for the peacekeeping force. In addition, Australia would supply some 10 staff officers for the force commander’s headquarters and some members of the force’s military police unit.
The details given by Street are in line with the Australian government’s decision in principle first announced last October to participate in the peacekeeping force. At the time, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser said that because of its support for the Camp David accords, Australia was prepared to participate provided there would be representatives from Britain, Canada or Western Europe.
The Australian decision aroused strong protest from the Labor Party which opposed any Australian involvement in the peacekeeping operations not under the supervision of the United Nations.
OBJECTIONS FROM SOME LABOR MPS
During a heated debate in Parliament, the leader of the Labor opposition, Bill Hayden, said that participation in the peace-keeping force rewards Israel’s “intransigence,” and he described Israeli Premier Menachem Begin as “the greatest threat to world peace.”
Some pro-Israel Labor MPs dissociated themselves from Hayden’s views. But a number of the leftwing spokesmen for the Labor Party attacked Camp David as a failure. They warned of the danger of retaliation by Arab governments who trade with Australia and who would be displeased by Canberra’s support for American policies in the Middle East.
Despite the lack of bipartisan support, opinion polls which showed public opposition to the move, and serious doubts within his own government, Prime Minister Fraser has consistently supported the need for Australian participation in trying to ensure the success of the Camp David accords.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
