Freedom for Palestine!

April 10, 2002
Issue 

1200 join Palestine rally

PERTH — About 1200 people attended a rally in Forrest Place on April 6 to protest Israel's war on the Palestinian people.

Speakers at the rally included students from the Australian Islamic College, Anthony Benbow from the Socialist Alliance, Father Brian Gore from Columban Mission Institute, Robin Chapple from the Greens (WA) and Sheikh Imran Husain from the Arabic Council.

Rally supports international protest action

BRISBANE — "We need people of peace, not tomorrow, but now", local Palestinian community leader Hashem Kleivo told 400 opponents of Israel's war against the Palestinian people at an April 6 rally in King George Square.

Marce Cameron from the Democratic Socialist Party called on the Australian public, which had mobilised massively in solidarity with the East Timorese in 1999, to "mobilise in the tens of thousands, in the streets, to stop the carnage" in Palestine and the "merciless targeting of innocent civilians" by the Israeli military.

Palestinian community leaders called on the protesters to support an April 19 Asia-Pacific regional day of solidarity with the Palestinians, by rallying on that day at 5pm in King George Square. An open organising committee will be meeting at 6.30pm on April 10 at the Resistance Centre, 122 Barry Parade, Fortitude Valley.

Protesters march on Israeli, US embassies

CANBERRA — An angry crowd of around 100 people marched on the Israeli embassy on April 5, chanting in English and Arabic and calling for an end to Israel's brutal oppression of the Palestinian people.

"The murderous actions of Israeli troops over the last few days are truly horrifying", declared rally chairperson James Caulfield, from the socialist youth group Resistance .

Other speakers reiterated this message, and Diana Rahman, a representative of Canberra's Muslim community, said that Palestinians had become "the Jews of the Jews".

The crowd then marched to the US embassy, chanting "Israel, USA, how many kids have you killed today?", highlighting the US government's support for Israel's ongoing human rights abuses.

The previous day, 60 people had attended a public forum at the Australian National University to hear a statement from Ali Kazak, the head of the Palestinian delegation in Australia.

From Green Left Weekly, April 10, 2002.
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