12pm Sunday 15th May at the State Library, Melbourne
“The Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic, is the common designation given to the hostilities and tribulations that began after the approval of the UN Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947. They led to the uprooting of some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and communities – about 85% of those living within the borders of what became the State of Israel. Most of these deportees and their descendants still live as refugees without citizenship throughout the Middle East, in the West Bank, in Gaza and all over the world, and are still prevented from returning home. A few have remained in the area that became the State of Israel and were forced to become Israeli citizens, however, they are actively disallowed from returning to their destroyed towns and villages, let alone repossessing their lands, which have been expropriated by the State for Jewish-only settlements.”
Israel is once again attacking Al-Aqsa Mosque in the holy month of Ramadan. Hundreds of prayer-goers have been brutalized and arrested by the Israeli Offense Force, and air strikes have hit Gaza. Israel is an aparthied state that commits crimes against huminaty and breaks international law, and this must be opposed.
Calling on all Palestine activists to come out this Saturday for an emergency rally to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians fighting back against Israeli terror and oppression.
Thank you for your solidarity and support during the last few weeks as we watched with horror Israel’s aggression and genocidal policies in Gaza, and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem.
The tide is turning! We have seen this in the overwhelming number of people who marched with us in all major cities around the country. Tens of thousands gathered to express solidarity and to assure us that despite all of the silencing and attempts at erasure we have faced from the media and other power structures, our voices today are louder than ever.
At its core, the Palestinian cause is an anti-racist and anti-colonial struggle. We fight to dismantle the oppressive structures of settler colonialism imposed on Palestinians, including the system of apartheid in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the illegal and punitive blockade on Gaza, and the discriminatory laws that sustain and protect these structures. We fully recognise that our struggle is interconnected with other campaigns for decolonisation and justice both here in Australia and around the world, and we stand in proud solidarity with First Nations peoples.
As our movement continues to expand and grow, we urge everyone to continue to stand up against all forms of racism and xenophobia, including Islamophobia, antisemitism, and Zionism.
We have achieved a lot in the past few weeks, but sadly our struggle is far from over. While the ceasefire is a welcome step and a much needed reprieve for Palestinians in Gaza, they still suffer collective punishment in the form of a cruel and illegal blockade. In Jerusalem, plans to ethnically cleanse the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood are still underway. Palestinians in Israel endure a myriad of social, legislative and other challenges that Jewish citizens do not face, while Palestinians in the occupied West Bank face daily humiliation in the creeping theft of their land through forced evictions, demolition of homes, and restrictions upon their freedom of movement. Meanwhile, six million Palestinian refugees remain unable to exercise their inalienable right to return to their ancestral lands.
We must continue to demand an immediate and urgent end to the ongoing war crimes, human rights abuses, and violations of international law that Israel conducts on a daily basis with full impunity. We also demand that our federal and state governments suspend all ties with Israel until a just solution is achieved, and the Palestinians are able to live in peace and equality in their ancestral lands.
We will continue to demand freedom, justice, and equality for all Palestinians, from the river to the sea!
Best regards
Salam,
Organising Committee
Let’s act to stop another attack on the people of Gaza. Sign this petition and share it with your family and friends. We know that together we can do this! To sign the petition go to https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN2715 Closing date: 23 June 2021
FORUM – Al Tatbia3: Freedom or Normalisation? Palestine, Israel and the Arab World
Wednesday 10 February 2021, 8pm to 9.30pm (AEST) Register here
Further details on EVENTS page.
We’re really delighted Dr Samah Sabawi is joining us on the panel. For those who don’t know her, Samah is a Palestinian-Australian playwright, author and poet. Outside the realm of art, she is a policy advisor to Al-Shabaka – الشبكة, the Palestinian Policy Network and the host of the new podcast and web series The Book Room with Samah Sabawi. Samah has also joined Nasser Mashni and FPM for a promotional interview on 3CR Community Radio that will air at 9.30am this Saturday. Make sure you tune in.
Miko Peled and Robert Martin: One on One
Author and activist, Miko Peled, hosts a discussion with longtime friend and Australian activist, Robert Martin. From Palestine to Maradona: no topic will go untouched and no stone left unturned.
This article discusses the psychology and manipulation of that psychology that justify Israel’s security doctrine and, by extension, the adoption of targeted killing as a state policy.
Making Jerusalem Jewish Again
This week we raised awareness of the organisation Ateret Cohanim, led by an Australia-born Daniel Luria. From the event post:
Australian-born Daniel Luria works for Ateret Cohanim, an Israeli organisation and yeshiva located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Founded in 1978, Ateret Cohanim works for the creation of a Jewish majority in the Old City and Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem. It arranges for Jewish acquisition of Arab properties, a complex and sometimes dangerous undertaking, thus expanding the Jewish “footprint” in Jerusalem.
This is clearly in violation of international law and considered a UN violation. The organisation has come to the attention of the UN in the past.
The organisation encourages the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian territory. UN Resolution 2334: December 23, 2016, condemned Israel’s construction of settlements in all territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem. If you want to understand who the organiser is, check this out: Louis Theroux – Ultra Zionists https://vimeo.com/253398748
The US, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917-2020 by Jerome Slater
“In 1973, Abba Eban, the eloquent Israeli diplomat, said: “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” an argument—better said, a myth—that was widely accepted and continues to have a huge impact on how the Arab-Israeli conflict has been understood in Israel, the United States, and most Western states. But that assessment was wrong then, and wrong since—if anything, the converse is close to being the case. One of the central purposes of this book, then, is to correct this myth, both in the interests of historical accuracy and in an effort to pave the way for policy changes in Israel and the United States.
The historical record, examined in detail in this book, demonstrates that it has been Israel, far more than the Palestinians and the leading Arab states, that has blocked fair compromise peace settlements.”
Please join us Saturday (12 Dec @ 2pm) at Coburg Lake. We just welcome your company but if you are able, any and all funds raised will be going towards #COVID19 relief in Gaza through Medical Aid for Palestinians.
We’ve pulled together some great raffle prizes – with an Olive tree, Palestinian recipe books, kuffiyehs, embroidery purses, and other goodies. All funds raised will be going towards COVID-19 relief in Gaza, through Medical Aid for Palestinians. We’re hoping people will give generously.
Did you know that HP and their spin-off companies supply Israel with the technology, equipment, and information used to perpetrate human rights violations against Palestinian people? Our friends at @BDSAustralia have put together a pledge that you can sign to the Managing Director of HP to let them know that you will not purchase any HP products until they cancel all contracts that violate the basic human rights of Palestinians. Sign the pledge here: https://bdsaustralia.good.do/boycotthp/boycotthp-pledge/
They are running a social media campaign this Saturday 28/11/2020 and asking people to share these campaign tiles. Save a tile by right-clicking on the image, selecting “save image as …” and saving to your hard drive. Then you can send and share.
FPM on our facebook will share these 7 tiles throughout the day. Please watch our facebook on Saturday and share too. ______________ Some information on the HP Boycott call – because HP are involved in:
Providing services and technology to the Israeli army and police that maintain Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the siege on Gaza
Maintaining Israel’s central ID system and data base for the Israeli police, used to enforce a system of racial segregation and apartheid against Palestinian citizens of Israel
Supporting Israel’s colonisation by maintaining information on Israeli citizens in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank
Operating a research and development centre in the illegal Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit in the occupied West Bank
