Australia and the Arabs

Australia and the Arabs, by: Ali Qazq, Doha:ACRPS. 2012. 336PP. The Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies has just released a book entitled Australia and Arabs, by the Palestinian Delegation Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand Ali Qazq. It tackles the relation to Arabs of Australia, the country that seems the furthest away from the heated issues of the Middle East. Part of the books originality is that it demonstrates how Australia has never been all that far at all. The author argues that Australia participated in the colonial wars of the Middle East and played a role in establishing the state of Israel in 1948; it has since been biased in favour of Israel, with which it has had strong commercial and security ties, at the expense of the Palestinians. The book opens with the discovery of Australia, moving onto its human and natural resources, its foreign policy and its political and economic vicissitudes. The author devotes the larger part of the book to a comparative study of Arab- and Israeli-Australian relations. The book also includes a chapter on the Jewish lobby in Australia and the role of Jewish businessmen there as compared to their Arab and Muslim counterparts, with emphasis on Palestinian activity on the continent.