The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) has thrown its support behind students and
young people involved in today’s School Strike for Palestine, saying it applauded the young organisers and attendees for their commitment to justice and peace for the Palestinian people.
APAN said the high attendance rates at the strikes showed that young people’s consciences compelled them to speak out and take action in the face of what UN experts have said is a genocide in the making.
Almost half of the population of Gaza is aged under 18, and more than 6000 babies and children have been killed in just 47 days. Schools and universities have been destroyed, and young people here recognise what this means for the dreams, aspirations, educational opportunities and future lives of the youth of Gaza.
Young people across this continent are appalled and horrified at this violence, and APAN supports the demands they have made for the Australian Government to call for:
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an urgent and permanent ceasefire,
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an end Israel’s siege on Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank, and
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an end to Australia’s military support of Israel.
APAN can only applaud the young people who came out onto the streets today to exercise their democratic right to protest the violence in Palestine, and to speak up for those people who have been silenced by the brutal force of the Israeli government.