Embassy of the State of Palestine

The General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific (GDOP), in co-operation with the Embassy of Kuwait in Canberra, organised an Australian federal parliamentary delegation to visit Kuwait and Palestine from the 6th to the 15th of January 2019. This delegation included MPs from four parties who were able to gain first-hand exposure to Palestinian history and society, as well as to the political realities on the ground.

Through meetings with government officials and civil society representatives, the delegates were given opportunities to ascertain and analyse the present state of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the reasons for the stagnant peace process.  Emphasis was also placed on Palestine's state and institution-building efforts, its economic development program, democratic transformation, human rights agenda, and the progress made so far towards, and the challenges facing, these programs and processes.

These meetings were supplemented by a number of day excursions to places of historical, cultural and sociological interest. In addition to deepening their knowledge of Palestine in these areas, MPs were also able to meet the locals and gauge their ambitions,  priorities, and expectations for the future.