A delegation to West Bank led by the Australian minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne, has been alleged to have false information and criticised as being less educated by a Palestinian minister. The delegation on Sunday also included former Parliamentary Minister Bronwyn Bishop and Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson, along with a number of other British MPs.

The two-day visit to Jerusalem by the delegation was part of an Australia-UK-Israel dialogue, which focused on the challenges faced by the Jewish nation and how Australia and UK could be of help to it.

According to Palestinian Education Minister Sabri Saidam, the meeting was “very explosive and very challenging” and held that the questions asked by the group were rude and blunt.

"The delegation had false information and twisted facts," Saidam told the ABC. "So it was clear the delegation was not well educated. Obviously the delegation was under impressions, wrong impressions accumulated after the visit to Israel. Coming blindfolded to realities, bypassing the pain of Palestinians in terms of daily happenings is not going to solve the conflict."

Saidam added that the group asked questions on Palestinian schools being named after persons who killed Israeli civilians. To this the minister replied that “one man's hero is another man's terrorist."

According to Wilson, the group quizzed the prime minister and the education minister of Palestine on a number of issues. According to Pyne, his conduct was very diplomatic but said that some members of the delegation were “too robust” in their demeanour. Pyne blamed the British delegates but Palestinian ministers insisted they were Australians.

"I very diplomatically asked the prime minister and the Higher Education minister questions which I thought would be useful for understanding the Palestinian attitudes to the peace process," he said. "Other members of the dialogue were slightly more robust and could be accused of quizzing them. I didn't quiz anyone."

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