This is a weekly ritual of civil disobedience and deterrence. It was the first time that I experienced the effects of tear gas. Yet young and old Palestinians continued to march in defiance. I realised how dangerous, entrenched and precarious the situation was. It doesn't take much to realise that as the prospects for peace and wellbeing flee, dissolution and despair morph into anger and fury and a recipe for confrontation and violence.

Regrettably, since my visit the situation has deteriorated. Israel's policies on the ground have deepened the Palestinians' misery, making a two-state solution much harder to reach. Uri Savir​, a former Knesset member and Israel's chief negotiator at the Oslo Accords, warns that Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, views Israeli settlements of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and their subsequent expansion, as an instrument in preventing a Palestinian state.

When it comes to exercising foreign policy, we in the ALP like to pride ourselves as being responsible international moral actors – as exercising what Gareth Evans once described as "good international citizenship". Australia has a proud record in the United Nations, which we were instrumental in creating after World War II with our own Doc Evatt (Dr Herbert V. Evatt) playing a leading role in the creation of Israel and the drafting of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Since then, we have played a major role in peacemaking around the world. We have provided more than 66,000 peacekeepers to more than 73 multilateral operations, including our major contribution to the UN Transitional Authority that brought peace to Cambodia. We are among the top 10 contributors to the World Food Program, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the UN Development Program and the Human Rights Commission.

However, when it comes to Palestine and Israel our record at the UN seems to be misguided by politics and expediency. Ever since we voted for the partitioning of Palestine in 1947, Australia has consistently voted against Palestine in the UN. In October 2011, Australia was one of the 14 countries that voted against admitting Palestine to UNESCO. Almost a year later – under Labor – Australia abstained from according Palestine non-Member Observer State status in the UN, rather than join most of the world (138 countries) that voted for the Palestinian statehood bid. This is in stark contrast with many Western countries that share Australia's democratic values and its history of support for Israel – countries such as France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway and the Netherlands. Even Britain's House of Commons passed a motion in October last year by an overwhelming 274 votes to 12 that "the government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel".